The Last AirBender and The Owls of Ga'Hoole
by Cody The Pikachu
Summary: During Bato of the Water Tribe and after LOTG movie. After Aang is abandoned by his friends and is turned into a Barn Owl, the Owls of Ga'Hoole find him and decide to raise the Avatar and train him in their ways. But will Aang and Soren defeat the Pure On
1. Memories and a Mission

**Okay, everyone. hp4ever123 has asked me if I could try a crossover of Avatar: The Last AirBender and Guardians of Ga'Hoole. The answer is that I'm switching this story from Guardians of Ga'Hoole to Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. All right, let's do the disclaimer and then I'll go to the summary.**

**Disclaimer: I own none of this!**

**Summary: Young Guardians named Shard and Parzival discover a young abandoned Barn Owl with strange arrow markings on his head. Can this Avatar Owl learn to live among the Guardians or return to his own world?**

**Also, this takes place during Bato of the Water Tribe just after Sokka yells at Aang-**

**Sokka: I said I was-**

**AvatarCat11: (Sighs) Sorry for the twenty-sixth time, I know. We've had to hear that many times already! Anyways, this also takes place after the Legend of the Guardians game and movie. Plus, I've always liked choosing Shard as a Barn Owl on the game.**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

"So Shard, what do you wanna do now?"

Shard looked over at his best friend, Parzival the Spotted Owl, and sighed. It was around a week or so ever since the Pure Ones had suffered their first defeat from the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Metalbeak, the leader of the Pure Ones, had been killed by a younger Barn Owl named Soren when he had a burning branch thrust through his gizzard.

Then his own gizzard churned at the thought of the traitor named Allomere. The Great Gray Owl had been the one to betray the Guardians and he was the murderer of Shard's parents, two monks named Grettir and Lygeia. After Allomere had been tricked and thrown into the tunnels by the "High Tyto" Metalbeak, he and Shard had one final battle before Allomere was thrown against a stalagmite and killed by a rockslide.

Shard knew that he should celebrate since Punkie Night was now being celebrated around the Ga'Hoole Tree, he still felt a little sad. Allomere had a lot of talent and he wasted it on the Pure Ones. He had wanted to save the traitor despite his faults, but there was nothing else that he could do.

"Shard? Snap out of it! Have you gone moon-blinked?"

Parzival was gazing at him with concern in his eyes and so did two other wingmen: Streak the eagle and Uriah the hermit owl.

"Oh...uh...I'm okay," the young Barn Owl managed to reply, blinking himself awake from those memories.

Uriah gazed at him carefully with his old yellow eyes. "Are you sure, laddie?"

Shard nodded.

Streak ruffled his dark golden feathers and told him, "Good. Enjoy the Punkie Night."

"What?" Parzival asked him with disbelief. "You're not going to join in?"

"Not tonight, young Guardians," the male eagle replied. "My mate and I need to look after our nest. We don't need any more Pure Ones and their filthy bats snatching up more hatchlings."

What he said made sense to Shard. The Pure Ones had a nasty habit of snatching up eggs and hatchlings to be raised in the ways of the Pure Ones. The bats also helped them collect flecks, little pieces of energy-draining minerals capable of messing up an owl's flight abilities. Plus, Streak and his mate, Zan, had a few eagle hatchlings a few days ago. His tongue-less mate needed his help in raising them.

"Let him go, son," Uriah chided the young Spotted Owl. "If he needs to raise his children, then that's what he'll do." To Streak, he added, "We'll see you again soon, my friend. It's been good serving as your fellow wingman."

"And I to you," Streak replied, dipping his head to the former hermit. To the Guardians, he said, "Tell Boron about my leaving. I'll see you again soon, my friends!"

With a flap of his wings, the large golden eagle rose into the air and started to fly away. Shard watched him go and felt bad for him. If he didn't have a mate at all, he'd be free to serve as a Guardian. But if he didn't have a mate, he wouldn't have been the brave and noble wingman that he knew during the Pure Ones crisis.

But as he watched the golden eagle fly away, he heard a growling voice behind him.

"Shard. There you are."

Ezylryb had hobbled up to beside him. The elderly Whiskered Screech Owl looked up at him and told him, "Be sure to enjoy this night while you can, because Boron said that you'll join him on a search-&-rescue chaw tomorrow morning. Be sure to bring Parzival, Uriah, and Streak-hang on. Where is that eagle anyways?"

"He left to take care of his hatchlings," Parzival explained.

"Oh." The Weather Chaw ryb nodded his head and continued, "Anyways, bring along Parzival, Uriah, Twilight, and Gylfie. You'll need to find a young Barn Owl; I believe he's near where the echidna lives at."

Parzival and Shard nodded and they joined up with The Band and Uriah for asking for the treats of Ga'Hoole.

**...**

The next morning, Boron, the king of Ga'Hoole, had called together the chosen owls right on a boulder near the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole and began giving them their instructions:

"Young Guardians (well, mostly young), today we are on the search of a young injured Barn Owl and we have to get it back to the tree very quick. While on this mission, do not fool around or we may never find this poor soul. Do not talk with any crow or bat along the way; however, if the crows belong to the Echidna, follow them to the gate to the sea of Hoolimere. Do any of you have any questions?"

Twilight raised his large wing and asked him, "If something's attacking that owl, do WE attack the offender?"

"Yes," Boron replied. "We are not savages, so we do not leave another to die unless if it is destined by Glaux. Any more questions?" When no other owl raised their wings, the King commanded, "Good. Now...let's move out!"

All of the owls of the search-&-rescue chaw let out screeches of victory and they all took off into the air. Shard felt his true duties as a Guardian rise in the air like an insect taking flight into the morning air. He hoped that the young owl didn't go yeep at the sight of many owls coming right for it. Letting his feathers ruffle and his gizzard guide him, he followed his search-&-rescue companions out to the sea of Hoolimere.

_Hold on, owlet! We're coming for you!_

**...**

After a bit of flying around and searching, they had landed somewhere near the Cape of Glaux. Then, to Shard's relief, Boron told everyone that they could take a break for a while. While on that break, Parzival pulled Shard to one side.

"Hey, Shard..."

"Yeah?"

The Spotted Owl gave a sigh and asked him, "You remember when you were daydreaming in Allomere's class and I said that you were as useless as your father?" When Shard, still feeling a little angry at that, nodded, Parzival went on, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for all of that."

Instead of forgiving him straight away, Shard asked him skeptically, "So why didn't you just apologize straight away?"

"I was just teasing you! I didn't know that you were gonna react!"

But right before the Barn Owl could give a retort, they heard Twilight call out from some pine trees, "Everyone! I-I think I found him and he seems to be injured! He looks weird!"

"Twilight! Don't be rude!" Gylfie scolded the much bigger owl.

"But it's true!" Twilight barked back. "Look at these markings!"

Immediately, all the owls of the chaw flew toward where Gylfie and Twilight were standing at and they stared down into a little hole in the ground, which was just big enough for an owl to fit itself. Shard's heart twisted with sympathy and shock for the young owl in front of him.

It was a sleeping male Barn Owl like himself and Soren except that he had a strange blue arrow marking on his forehead and it even split into pairs; some went to his tail feathers while the upper part branched off into two arrows on either wing. His face and body were covered with blood and he looked very weak and skinny. Maybe he couldn't hunt right.

Suddenly, the male owlet woke up with a start, opening stormy gray eyes, and he called out in an absently upset voice, "I didn't mean to, Sokka! I just wanted you to stay for a while! Please, Katara! Please believe me!"

_Who are Sokka and Katara? Those are weird names for an owl._

Boron fluttered down in front of him and preened his matted feathers softly, murmuring gently, "Young owlet, it's all right. It'll all be okay."

"No it won't!" the owl sobbed. "I don't even deserve to be the Avatar!"

_The Avatar? What's that? Has he gone completely yoicks?_

"Hmmm," Uriah spoke up, walking around the small owl. "He seems to be very peaky and he'll need some feeding up. Won't you agree, Your Majesty?"

"Yes," Boron said. "Judging by the feathers on his wings, it's as if he was just learning how to fly. He must not have had a First Branching!"

Twilight rolled his eyes and muttered, "I didn't have that either, just to remind you."

Ignoring the Great Gray Owl's comment, Boron stooped low to the young owl's eye level and asked him softly, "What is your name?"

"Aang," replied the owl.

"Hmmm... Peculiar name for an owl." Boron immediately took him in one talon and that made the weak owl screech in alarm. "It's all right, Aang. We've only come to take you to the tree of Ga'Hoole. Since you may not fly now, I'll carry you. Guardians!" he called to the other owls. "Our mission is complete! Let's go back home!"

All the owls, including Boron still holding Aang in his gentle talon, took off into the air and started to fly onwards to the Tree of Ga'Hoole. As the Guardians flew on, Shard and Parzival flew next to Boron's talon and began to try to calm Aang down.

"It's okay, little owlet. You're with us now," Parzival soothed the frightened Barn Owl, but Aang looked at him as if the Spotted Owl was going to eat him. "Don't worry about me! I won't bite!"

Shard added, "My name's Shard and this is my best friend Parzival. You'll be welcomed well to the Guardians of Ga'Hoole."

"Ga'Hoole?" Aang asked him. "What's that?"

Parzival added, "It's a land where noble warriors named the Guardians of Ga'Hoole rise to perform noble deeds. They have sworn to protect the innocent and vanquish all evil!"

Aang nodded weakly at him and muttered, "Well, I don't wanna go back to those two. Ever. Is it all right if I can join Ga'Hoole?"

_To be continued..._

**...**

**So will Aang be accepted into the Guardians of Ga'Hoole? Or will he have to turn back? That's all for now since I gotta get some shut-eye.**

**But I'll ask you to review. That's all.**

**See ya next time!**


	2. A Visit To The Echidna

**Some other author has told me that I should update soon and that's what I'll do. So on the last chapter, the Owls of Ga'Hoole found Aang all injured and abandoned and turned into a Barn Owl. Now he wants to join Ga'Hoole, but will they let him?**

**Don't worry! Shard and his chaw don't know that he's a human yet, but this chapter will let them know from a special person who has foretold that this would happen.**

**Summary: After rescuing Aang, Shard and his search-&-rescue chaw visit a recognizable shaman who tells the owls about Aang's true identity. When Aang asks Boron if he can join Ga'Hoole's Guardians, will he be able to join?**

**Updating date: February 11, 2011**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_A Visit To The Echidna_

After they had flown a little right near the Cape of Glaux, Boron had heard that Aang was getting a little hungry, so the owls had went off to hunt for him for a little bit. But when Shard had just caught a mouse for Aang and set it down in front of him, the young Barn Owl turned away.

"Aang, what's wrong?" Shard asked him, feeling confused. "Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm sorry...but I don't eat meat," Aang suddenly spoke rapidly.

Despite feeling shocked at that revelation, Shard could understand him totally; besides, Octavia, one of the nest maid snakes, could give him some milkberry tea, a milkberry tart, or even some acorn porridge. But the feeling of an owl never eating made him feel a little bit amazed. Without eating meat, owls could never yarp up good pellets from their gizzards.

But Parzival wasn't that understanding.

"What?" the Spotted Owl hooted with shock. "Of course you gotta eat some meat! How will you survive?"

But the look Aang gave Parzival made Shard ruffle his feathers with shock. The youthful Barn Owl's dark gray eyes were glowing with some kind of uncanny pale bluish-white light; even his arrows on his wings and tail feathers were glowing. But right before anything else could happen, a crow suddenly flew out of nowhere and snatched him up.

"Hey!" Parzival barked as the shiny black-feathered wet pooper began to fly off. Shard could see Aang's glowing disappear and his eyes were now filled with fright.

Shard could feel rage surge through his body from his head to the tips of his talons; how dare that crow attack Aang while he was fixing to say something! He remembered the Guardian Oath that Ezylryb and Noctus, Soren's father, repeat to the younger owls: "We are the eyes of the night. We are the silence within the wind. We are the talons through the fire. We are the shield that guards the innocent. We shall defend the meek and vanquish the evil. We are the Guardians of Ga'Hoole."

The male Barn Owl realized that those two were right; whatever Aang had experienced in the past, it was up to him and the other guardians to save this young owlet, for to save and care for the innocent was a great honor.

But right before Twilight, who had seen the commotion, could launch himself into the air, Boron held out his wings for him to halt.

"Those are not dangerous crows," the huge male Snowy Owl murmured. "Those crows are the Echidna's crows."

At that, he lifted himself into the air and started to fly after the crows. Twilight followed suit and so did Gylfie and Uriah. Parzival just rolled his black eyes at Shard as if he couldn't believe that they were doing this and flew off after them.

Shard couldn't help but feel that the Echidna might know what was wrong with Aang; he just hoped that the mystic monotreme didn't go crazy on them and hit the owls on their heads with his staff...not that he had done that yet. So, feeling that there could still be hope for the young owl yet, Shard spread out his wings, lifted himself into the air, and flew off quickly after the other Guardians.

**...**

"So what happened to Aang?" Gylfie asked Shard and Parzival as they flew side by side. They had finally landed at the entrance to the Sea of Hoolimere and Aang was nowhere to be seen.

Parzival shrugged and said, "Well...when he told us that he didn't eat meat, I told him 'Of course you gotta eat some meat! How will you survive'? Then all of a sudden, his weird arrows began glowing and he looked as if he was going to attack us! But before anything else happened, that crow swooped in out of nowhere and snatched Aang up!"

Shard was going to bet his next cup of milkberry tea that Gylfie was going to screech about Parzival's carelessness. But instead, the minuscule Elf Owl began to stare at the two of them sadly.

She turned her large amber gaze to the Spotted Owl and asked him, "Why did you have to say that to him? Because of you, that crow's snatched him up!"

"Ah...don't blame Parzival for that," a new voice spoke up. "I sent that crow here to fetch him so that I could heal up his shocked state."

All three owls (plus Boron, Twilight, and Uriah) turned to where the voice came from. Walking toward them in front of some crows walking to them was a sort-of bulky animal with spikes on his back tinged with blue paint. He had an extended snout that held a long tongue and he was carrying a staff in his front arm. Behind him, looking nervous, was Aang, who was looking meekly around at the crows.

The Echidna spotted the owls and told Boron, "'Twas foretold that a new owl would join you!"

Boron's yellow eyes were large with astonishment and Shard realized that he and Parzival hadn't told the Ga'Hoolian king about Aang joining the guardians. But with a bit of luck, with the help from the mystic Echidna, the timid young owl could stay at the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole.

"Hey!" Aang spoke up with some kind of new smile on his beak. "He told me that he's an animal called an echidna!"

"I'm THE Echidna!" the monotreme corrected him, tapping him soothingly on the head with his staff. Turning back to the other owls, he said, "I have sent the crows to lure you over here to hear these words that I must tell you. But they don't mean any harm!"

Gylfie just rolled her eyes as she muttered, "I bet he really doesn't mean that."

However, the Echidna heard her comment and pointed his staff angrily at her, scolding her, "I do! Doubter!" His long tongue slurped around his long snout as he looked back at the other owls before pointing his staff to a small pool of fresh water. "As I was saying, I have called you over here so that you may look into this pool of other worlds." He dumped some kind of potion into the pool before swirling it around with his staff. "Now look in!"

So all seven owls looked into the pool and they were watching the scene in the pool open up in front of them. Shard could see a young male two-legged creature with the same arrow marking and yellow-&-red stuff covering his body. Next to him were a young female two-legged creature with blue eyes, blue stuff on her body, and long dark brown hair tied in a knot while a long plait drooped from behind.

Then the human Aang had given to what looked like the female's brother a map and Shard could pay attention to everything that they were saying. By the sound of the older male's voice, he sounded traumatized and very furious as he yelled at Aang. Then he heard, "You can go to the Northern Water Tribe all by yourself! I'm going to go find my dad!"

Shard's shock was filled with pure rage. How dare this human yell at him when he looked sorry and ready to cry already! The oldest male had tried to tell the younger one something while he walked away from him, but the male ignored him while turning to his sister and saying to her, "Katara, are you coming or not?"

There was no hesitation at all as the female lowered her eyes and murmured, "I'm going with you, Sokka," before leaving Aang all alone. Before leaving, Katara and Sokka had given him looks of disappointment and anger (Katara with disappointment and Sokka with anger) before leaving Aang to cry all by himself.

When that was done, Twilight was the first to roar, "Those two pieces of racdrops! How could they abandon him like that?"

"Why...what happened?" Gylfie asked Aang, shock filling her voice.

The young Barn Owl turned away from them and didn't speak at all.

"There's another thing," Shard spoke up to the Echidna, feeling the realization enter his gizzard like a very hard snowstorm. "What kind of creatures were Aang and his-"

"Enemies?" Twilight snapped as his yellow eyes began glowing angrily.

Shard turned around to give him an odd look as he said, "Uh, no. I was going to say...um..."

"Fellow travelers?" the Echidna finished for him. Shard nodded and the mystic monotreme went on, "Anyways, Avatar Aang and his fellow travelers are what are known to be called 'humans.' But you owls call them the 'Others', correct?" All the owls nodded. "Anyways, Aang has come from a world different from ours: a world torn by war just like ours."

All the owls gave each other some kind of confusion; they had never known that the Others had new names. But Shard couldn't believe that the owl that they had rescued was in fact a powerful human. But he was happy that the Guardians rescued him; if not, he would have been lifeless, maybe killed by the same Tasmanian Devil that almost killed Soren and his brother Kludd.

Boron turned his wise and kind yellow eyes to Aang and asked him, "So how did you get those injuries? And how did you become an owl?"

"Well..." Aang began to explain. "After Sokka, Katara, and Bato (that's the older human and their family friend) left me at the beach, I felt this bright light envelop around me and say to me 'Friends that are human had left you and you will receive nonhuman friends in return.' Then, after I was knocked out for a few hours, I woke up as an owl."

"But how'd you get the injuries? Did that Sokka guy come back to you just to beat you up?" Parzival asked him.

Aang shuddered as if he had remembered the yelling confrontation, then he quickly shook his head, murmuring, "No. After I became an owl, I taught myself how to fly since I know how to AirBend; I'll explain that later. Anyways, after I managed to get near here through some portal, I got beaten up by some Barn Owls that kept shouting 'Metalbeak shall have you as his recruit! May Tyto reign over the owl world forever!'"

That left all of the Guardians in a state of shock, especially Shard. He knew that the Pure Ones weren't gone forever, but they had been defeated for that round. _But...how could Metalbeak be alive again? _he thought with pure horror. The last time he had heard from Ezylryb (aka Lyze of Kiel), the leader of the Pure Ones had been killed by Soren.

"Those are the Pure Ones," Uriah spoke up. "D'you think that the Pure Ones are working under a new leader?"

"Maybe," the Echidna spoke up while he shrugged.

Suddenly, both Shard and Parzival forgot to say something to Boron: the invitation of Aang into the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole. Then Parzival tapped the King on the shoulder with his talon and he gazed down at the young orphan.

"Yes?"

"Um..." Shard spoke up. "Uh..." Now he forgot what to say.

Parzival gave his best friend an odd look before speaking up, "Your Majesty, on the way here to cape Glaux, Aang had asked us if he could join us at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. I told him that he can as long as we ask you. So...may he?"

Boron looked over at Aang, who looked very anxious as he dared to look up into the king's eyes. Then he looked over at the Echidna, who gave the large male Snowy Owl a solemn nod while his band of crows nodded enthusiastically. Shard and Parzival hoped that he would say yes, Gylfie and Twilight gave each other worried looks, and Uriah was nodding along. There was a few seconds of silence, and then...

"Of course you may join us, Aang." Everyone sighed with happiness, even the crows. "After your traumatic experience with your friends-oh, sorry..."

"No, it's okay, your Majesty," Aang replied bitterly behind his excited dark gray eyes. "They're not my friends anymore."

"All right, then," the outsized King of Ga'Hoole backed up his words as he shook his large head. "Anyways, after your traumatic experience with your..._former_...friends and those evil Pure Ones mercilessly attacking you, I feel that it is best if we give you a place to stay. Now can you fly well or eat something?"

Suddenly, a crow walked over to Aang and dropped a dead vole at the Avatar's feet. At first, he looked repulsed at eating this, but the owls, crows, and Echidna nodded to him, Aang picked up the vole in his talon, opened his beak, and dropped the small animal inside. After receiving an encouraging nod from Uriah to remember to chew, he chewed a little before finally swallowing it.

Parzival walked over to Aang and asked him earnestly, "So? How'd it taste?"

Aang coughed a little before telling the Spotted Owl, "It's good! Even though my people never eat meat, this is quite good!"

"Just remember to give a few hours for it to digest," Uriah spoke up. "When you feel a choking sensation, don't worry; you won't get sick! It means you gotta yarp up a pellet! The indigestible stuff rolls up in your gizzard and you hack it up! It's normal for all of us owls, laddie! It's dizzy in the gizzy!"

"I guess I got a lot to learn," Aang replied and all the owls, crows, and Echidna laughed with pure amusement in his voice. "Anyways, I feel good enough to fly now. Can we go?"

The Echidna nodded and placed the tip of his staff to Aang's chest, saying, "Just like the Chaw of Chaws have become the Warrior-"

"A poet warrior," Twilight reminded him.

"-the Tracker, the Navigator, the Heart, and the Leader," the Echidna went on as he ignored the Great Gray Owl's comment, "you, Avatar Aang, shall be known as...the Spirit! Good luck!"

Boron nodded and lifted himself up into the air, giving the signal for the Guardians of Ga'Hoole to follow him back to the Great Tree. Aang followed up from behind Gylfie and followed the owls to their home toward the Sea of Hoolimere.

But Shard didn't listen to what one crow was muttering to the Echidna; it sounded like "What are you gonna do with Aang's friends?"

"Ah...'twas foretold that you would ask me that!" the mystic monotreme replied. "Lyze of Kiel and I have a surprise for Katara and Sokka! Just you wait!"

_To be continued..._

**...**

**This seems to be a good start for chapter 2! Tigerblossom had asked me if I could update really soon and that's just what I'm gonna do!**

**Anyways, if anyone reviews, they'll be given either virtual milkberry tea, acorn porridge, milkberry tarts, or even milkberry mead!**

**See ya next time!**


	3. Welcome To Ga'Hoole

**AvatarCat11: Someone had sent me a review telling me to update really soon or this story will be one of those that are really delayed. Then again, I haven't updated Bluebeard's Story or my Wildfire story for a while. So I'm updating again!**

**Plus, there's only one more month for me to go until I graduate from school. I really can't wait for this school year to end! Anyways, here's the disclaimer again.**

**Disclaimer: I will never own Avatar: The Last AirBender or Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.**

**Summary: When Aang arrives at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, Soren becomes friends with him straight away and Aang explains the situation to the Parliament. Will the owls of the Great Tree accept him right away?**

**Updating Date: April 7, 2011**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_Welcome To Ga'Hoole_

"The Pure Ones will win this war!"

"I don't think so!"

Soren watched with amusement as Eglantine and Digger initiated their acting scene when Lyze of Kiel and Metalbeak battled each other. Around them, the younger owlets were watching them with amazement in their eyes as the other older owls performed for them. Meanwhile, Otulissa, a female Short Eared Owl, was watching them with amusement in her eyes; Soren knew that she could be a little snooty, but he didn't complain since he had a crush on her.

The young Barn Owl couldn't believe that his little sister had changed over the months after they stayed at Ga'Hoole for long; their parents, meanwhile, were still staying in the fir hollow in the Forest Kingdom of Tyto. Eglantine, meanwhile, had finally been able to grow her own flight feathers and she was passing through her First Branching with flying colors.

Digger was tackled to the ground as Eglantine stood above him since she was taller than he was now. "You may have won this round, Lyze of Kiel," the Burrowing Owl shouted in mock anger, "but the Pure Ones will rise to control the owl kingdoms once again!"

"I believe not," Eglantine retorted playfully. She sat up and announced, "Now the Guardians of Ga'Hoole have saved the owl kingdoms! They have upheld their splendid oath to protect the innocent, make strong the weak, and vanquish evil! Now off to Hagsmire for you, Metalbeak!"

At that, Digger made a fake gagging noise and fell down with his tongue hanging out of his beak. Soren was happy that he let his sister be Lyze of Kiel on the second round because he hated to break his promise to her.

Soren chuckled a little bit before turning to the owlets. "Now let this be a lesson that my father told me: only you, and you owlets alone, can make your dreams come alive. Do you want to hear the story again?" They all nodded. "Good. Now listen up."

"As it was in the old ages, so it was in the new. The Guardians upheld their oath that night. They made strong the weak and mended the broken, and when the sun shine again that morning, all can see that they had vanquished the evil.

"With the peace restored, it was time for celebration and recognition that our small band of owls who had faith and storm into the tree now stood before its king and queen as young guardians. And they finally with all their hearts to take that ancient oath: _To mend those who are broken, to make strong the weak, and, without hesitation, vanquish the evil._" Soren stopped his story right here for building up the dramatic scene.

There was a moment of silence as the owlets stared up at him before he continued. "For as we know, Nyra escaped. And Kludd? Kludd was never found."

After he was finished with his tale, he asked them, "Is anyone doing to have daymares because of this?"

"No way!" a young male Northern Saw-Whet Owl named Martin exclaimed.

Primrose, a young female Pygmy Owl, added, "Yeah! I'm brave like a Guardian!"

Soren chuckled at those comments while Eglantine got off of Digger, who was laughing while picking himself up from the ground. Then Soren watched Ezylryb (also known as Lyze of Kiel) walk into the owlets' hollow and cheerfully pretend to frighten them with his squint. The owlets cheered as Ezylryb did his signature squint before the old Whiskered Screech walked right up to his pupil.

"Soren, the search-and-rescue chaw has returned with a young owlet safe with them," the elderly weather interpretation ryb told him. "He may need some bit of help with getting around the Great Tree."

"Yes, Ezylryb...or...Lyze?" Soren stammered, stumbling over his mentor's name.

Ezylryb chuckled and said, "Yes to both, boy," before taking off.

All of the owlets gazed at Soren as if he was going to tell what he was going to do. After a nod from Eglantine and Digger, the young Barn Owl opened up his wings, lifted himself into the air, and flew out of the hole as he was ready to meet the young new owl.

**...**

As Aang followed the other owls to their home to the Great Tree, he noticed the fog lifting as the sun shone down on them. Wherever the Great Tree was at, it had to be better than being with the humans that he once thought were his friends. Already, he couldn't wait to make friends with owls that would listen to him.

"Aang, are you keeping up?" Boron asked him, turning around to see how he was doing.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Aang called back respectfully.

Boron churred deeply and said, "I don't think you'll have to worry about any formalities until you spend one moon cycle with us, Aang. So for now, just call me Boron. We'll get to formalities for if they agree to accept you."

Now Aang sidetracked his former speech and called back, "Okay, Boron!"

But inside, he felt really worried about one thing: he was leaving behind what Avatar Roku had told him to do. He had just around seven more months to go until Sozin's Comet arrived in his world. Since that was going to come around, the young Avatar had to learn the four elements to try and defeat Fire Lord Ozai. Besides, Katara and Sokka were going along with him...until they abandoned him.

Whenever he thought of those two now, instead of making him feel safe, it made him gag. Oh, and he wasn't just gagging about that; he was also coughing a little until a small rounded black thing fell out of his mouth and into the sea of Hoolimere. He felt a little embarrassed about that until he saw Uriah pull back and nod to him; Aang suddenly remembered the Great Horned Owl telling him about pellets.

"Don't worry, laddie. You just yarped up your first pellet, that's all!" Uriah reassured him. He looked down and remarked, "Besides, that looked like one good pellet you made! You could really see the good vole bones and vole fur in there. Excellent job there!"

"Thank you, Uriah," Aang thanked him politely.

Then they heard Boron's voice call out, "Guardians, we're coming forward to the Great Tree! Follow me!"

As Aang followed the large Snowy Owl the rest of the way, he heard a gong ringing throughout the area. What he saw next made him gasp with amazement: in front of him was the biggest tree that he had ever seen. It looked even taller than the temple at the Southern Air Temple and it looked twice as wide and old. He could see small outlines of birds flying here and there among the branches of the Great Tree.

"Amazing, huh?" Shard said, pulling back to fly beside the young Avatar.

Aang nodded.

Shard chuckled, "I feel how you feel. I wasn't born here at the Great Tree; I was born to two Glauxian monks named Grettir and Lygeia. But I lost them before I was hatched."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Aang consoled him.

"It's okay," Shard told him kindly. "I didn't remember that much of them except that they were murdered by a traitor named Allomere."

Aang could remember the Fire nation and its horrible mark it left on his former home, especially the death of his mentor, Monk Gyatso. He could remember the skeleton of his teacher lying in a patch of sunshine and he almost destroyed the temple if Katara didn't help him. But that thought now made him sick rather than happy.

Suddenly, a loud gong rang out to Aang's Barn Owl ears as the search-and-rescue chaw flew around a large rock. What was in front of him made him gasp with awe: they were now flying up close to the gigantic Ga'Hoole Tree. He could see many windows dotted along the trunk and there were quite a few rocks surrounding it. Several owls flew past him and called out some friendly greetings before flying up away towards the sky.

Immediately, he saw another young owl, a Barn Owl, fly over to them and say to Shard, "Welcome back, Shard! Did you find the young owl in danger?"

"Yeah," Shard replied back to the younger Barn Owl. To Aang, he said, "Aang, this is Soren, one of the younger Guardians here at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. And Soren, this is Aang. He's something that they call an 'Avatar.'"

Aang couldn't help but get a little shy when Soren looked over at his blue arrow markings. He had received the arrow tattoos when he had already gotten a lot of AirBending moves right and he was immediately told afterwards that he was the Avatar. His friends at the Air Temple had been long gone and his recent friends had abandoned him, so the owls could be his new friends.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Aang," Soren spoke up, shaking him out of his thoughts.

"Same to you," the Avatar answered back.

Soon, Parzival came flying back to them and asked them, "Guys, what's taking you so long? Let's get to the Great Tree and talk with the Parliament!"

The three Barn Owls agreed with him and flew off after him to the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole.

**...**

While Soren landed on a platform on the Great Tree trunk, he looked behind him to see Aang land behind him and stare up at the canopy with amazement. Soren could remember his first day here, when he and his friends (Gylfie, Twilight, Digger, and Mrs. Plithiver) had come to the Great Tree after Digger was rescued. When he saw all of those owls flying around above him, he felt that this was the place where they belonged; his parents, meanwhile, let him and Eglantine stay to be Guardians they could be proud of while they stayed at the Forest Kingdom of Tyto.

"This place is so beautiful..." Aang rasped as he stared all around him.

"Of course it is. It's the best place to become a guardian."

Both Soren and Aang turned around to see Otulissa fly down towards them with a few nooties in her talons. Soren felt his heart beat a little when he saw the young female Short Eared Owl min the sunlight. The sun's rays seemed to make her dark brown mottled feathers turn golden and that made him stare blankly at her.

Otulissa gave him a weird look as she asked him, "Soren, are you all right?"

Soren shook his feathers just in time to see her staring at him with concern in her yellow eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine." Looking over at Aang, he told her, "Otulissa, this is Aang. And Aang, this is Otulissa, a member of the weather interpretation chaw."

"Please don't say that in front of me, Soren," the Short Eared Owl sighed as she shuddered. "I don't know why Boron and Barran won't let me change chaws to be with Strix Struma. That old Ezylryb is so crazy!" Recovering, she told Aang, "Anyways, you can't become a guardian just in one day. You have to go through the training first."

All of a sudden, a large flame-colored Great Horned owl came swooping down from above them. "Come on, ladies, let's get to the Parliament. Then after that, you can get something to eat along with some milkberry tea."

Soren nodded. "Yes, Bubo."

But as soon as Bubo flew off, Otulissa shivered again. "I don't like that owl."

Aang suddenly piped up, "Why?"

"If you must know, Aang, then he's the blacksmith of our tree," Otulissa said. "And I must say that he's quite a bit filthy for a meeting with the King and Queen."

Despite liking Otulissa very much, Soren had no choice but to roll his yellow eyes at her. But the female owl caught that and playfully tackled her to the ground. While the two young owls began to play-fight, Aang was following Bubo away from them and to the meeting. Finally, Soren and Otulissa finished the fight with her pinning him down with her talons...but softly.

Otulissa stared down at him and hooted happily, "Pinned you down, Soren!"

"But you used the ankle sweep!" Soren complained, kicking out gently so that she got off of him. He really had to admire her battle techniques since they worked quite well; that ankle sweep could be enough to make a Pure One trip over. Noticing that Aang was flying off after Bubo, he shouted, "Aang! Don't leave without us!"

With laughter and a flap of the wings, the two owls lifted themselves into the air and flew off after him to the meeting. Soren couldn't explain it, but he had a feeling in his gizzard that Aang and Otulissa could become good members of the Band. He hoped that they could join; that way, five would become seven.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat11: That's all I can write for now and the next chapter will introduce the owls of the Parliament once again! But this time, there's a Spotted Owl on there that's even more irritating than Otulissa was on the books! I'll use that owl later on in Silver's Story.**

**So all I can say is to review and you'll receive virtual milkberry tarts or milkberry tea.**

**See ya next time!**


	4. The Parliament

**AvatarCat11: I made a mistake on the first couple of chapters. Normally, Barran is the ryb in the search-and-rescue Chaw, not Boron. So I'll have to re-edit the story and make sure to fix that mistake. Plus, since this is gonna take place in books 4-6, this will have Dewlap, Kludd as the new Metalbeak, and maybe Skench and Spoorn since Nyra and the Pure Ones fled from St. Aggie's at the end of the movie.**

**Anyways, I believe that's enough for now. So let's get on with the disclaimer, summary, and updating date.**

**Disclaimer: I am not, and never be, the owner of Avatar: The Last AirBender or Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.**

**Summary: Aang is summoned to the Parliament to explain his story to the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. While there, he makes an enemy of one of the rybs of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. Will he be accepted entirely by the other owls?**

**Updating Date: August 20, 2011**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_The Parliament_

As Aang followed Bubo to the Parliament, he looked around him to see many owls gazing at him with interest. The Avatar felt very uncomfortable with these birds looking over at him when he was going to the main chamber of the Great Tree. His Barn Owl ears allowed him to hear some words that the owls were saying about him, stuff like "strange" or "fascinating".

Finally, Aang and Bubo had arrived at the hole of the Parliament and they dove inside. Aang did his best to keep up with the blacksmith, but he was very mesmerized by the amazement of the room that the Parliament was at.

Inside, there was a large wooden platform in the middle of the pit, but there was a large hole that left only the rims of the wood. On the good side, there was a large perch at where an owl who wished to talk to the Parliament could stand on for balance. There were other perches encircling the platform and there were torches everywhere he turned. And on those perches were so many owls that it was hard to tell how many there were.

Bubo flew over to the perch on the platform and told Aang, "There you go, lad. Now just wait here until the Guardians call for you to speak."

Aang nodded, flew down to the perch, and landed.

While Bubo went over to his spot, Aang felt very anxious about speaking. Barran had said that it would mainly be up to Boron to say if he could stay. He had almost wished that he could go back to see Katara and Sokka again, but he pushed the thought away. They chose their own path and he could go on his own path.

Finally, after all the owls quieted down, Boron raised a small mallet into the air and hammered it onto a piece of wood he stood on. All the owls turned their heads around to look at what their King and Queen were going to say.

"Welcome to another meeting, Guardians," the large Snowy Owl announced. "Today, we have three things to discuss about. First, we shall discuss the reappearance of the Pure Ones around the Forest Kingdom of Ambala."

"Might I suggest we take a fresh search-&-rescue patrol over to Ambala? You know, to find any owlets taken by the Pure Ones?" a large Great Gray asked.

Barran frowned at this. "We might, Elvanryb, but we'll have to be very vigilant if we approach Ambala. No one knows when the Pure Ones will make their next strike. But if we go out, we'll have to send out half of our guardians over there. And no pupils should come along, for they are the future of the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole."

"Anything else about the subject?" Boron asked.

"I have one," a young female Burrowing Owl spoke up; she was quite pretty with long white legs. "Maybe we can stock up on food for the storage? That way, if there was a siege in the winter, then we could still have something to eat."

Barran nodded. "That's a good idea, Sylvana. We'll see to it that extra leftover food ready for feasts stay in the storage. And make sure that the Tracking Chaw dig enough room to have some food or even evacuate if the Tree is under a siege."

Aang noticed the business-like way that the owls had taken to while they discussed any subject of the world. The Guardians appeared to be like the four nations of his own world except, yes, they were owls. Also, like the remaining two nations fighting the Fire Nation, the Guardians were at war with these Pure Ones. Plus, he had noticed that the Pure Ones that beat him up were only Barn Owls; those cruel soldiers seemed to be very prejudiced against other species.

While he was thinking this over, Boron spoke up, "The second matter is about how many owlets have been returned to their parents. We'll have to take some guardians over to their families and see how they're recovering."

"Like Barran said before, we'll have to be wary of the Pure Ones," Bubo piped up. "If we're not vigilant enough, then they could spring a trap onto us in an unsuspecting way." When the owls gasped, the blacksmith went on, "I could create something that could sense where traps are being buried at."

Aang saw that Bubo was remotely like Sokka, since the two of them would like to to experiment with the machineries that had advanced over the years. But he kept the thought to himself, for he didn't want to spread any bit of suspicion. So he just stared around him in curiosity.

"And finally..." Barran spoke loudly, "...we have a young owl here who wants to join us as a Guardian. Welcome Aang to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree."

Now all the owls looked down from their perches to gaze down at the young Avatar, who now looked nervous. Looking up at the king and queen of the Great Tree, he saw that their yellow eyes were filled with kindness and wisdom as they indicated for him to tell his story. Feeling a little braver now, Aang steeled himself to talk.

_I can do this!_

Soon enough, he began telling his story, starting when he and his friends came across Bato, who was chief Hakoda's childhood friend. He had also told them about how his friends had excluded him from telling stories and hanging out with him, which made most of the owls mutter angrily. Then when he told them of how Sokka reacted too harshly at the letter Hakoda's messenger gave him, they were letting out hoots of anger.

"Order! Order!" Boron shouted, tapping his perch with a small mallet. Then he told Aang, "And that's the first part, right?"

Aang nodded.

A female Short-Eared Owl was saying, "The poor lad has endured enough trouble for several days, don't you think?"

Beside her, a male Boreal Owl was replying, "I agree with you right there, Strix Struma. What I can't believe is that those friends consider their own destinies more important than their own friend."

"Well, I think it serves him right!" a croaky female voice spoke out. This belonged to a female Burrowing Owl; she was quite ugly with a bit of a temper to match. Leering down at Aang, she scolded, "I would be very ashamed to even see you trick them like that. Owls like you should be quickly punished as soon as possible! The nerve of turnfeathers like you!"

Aang dropped his head, feeling the scolding hit him as hard as a rock. Now he was being yelled at for trying to defend himself.

But all of a sudden, there was a wheezing noise and every owl turned to see who it was. Aang saw that the wheezing came from an old Whiskered Screech Owl with the most alarming look he had ever seen. He had an everlasting squint in his left eye (which reminded him of Zuko, the FireBender trying to catch him and his friends) and one of his talons was missing.

But that rasping sound he was making was actually laughter.

"And whatever do you find so funny, Ezylryb?" the ugly Burrowing Owl asked him.

Ezylryb quickly yarped out a pellet before saying in a growling sort of tone, "The thing I find really funny, Dewlap, is how you continue to rebuke this young'un even after he gets discarded by his friends…like a useless piece of coal. I, on the other hand, say that it is his former friends that had done this. If they hadn't abandoned him in his time of need, there would be no need for this blame to go about."

"This is coming from the owl who sliced off Metal Beak's beak, I believe?" Dewlap retorted. "And why should I stop giving this owl his just reward?"

"What you call reward, I call continuing to scold him...which you only seem best at," Ezylryb snapped back.

Dewlap rose from her perch and was ready to fly at the old owl when a familiar hammering sound made the two stop arguing. It was Barran this time, with her own mallet on her own piece of board.

"We must have order in the meeting!" the large female Snowy Owl called out. "Enough of this fighting!"

Dewlap and Ezylryb glared at one another still, but they finally settled down. Aang was inwardly grateful for that, for he hated fighting no matter if it was two friends or enemies.

Finally, Boron spoke up, "Aang, you may continue your story."

"Yes, Boron."

At this, Aang launched into the second part of his story some more. He had told them everything about how he became an owl and about how this strange owl spirit had appeared before him. But they all gasped when they heard about the owls attacking Aang and how they were talking about Metal Beak.

Elvanryb was saying, "How can this be? Soren already killed him!"

Boron looked very thoughtful as he expressed his thoughts. "It could be possible. I believe that the Pure Ones would be able to find a new High Tyto to take the former one's place. But who would want to take the place of Metal Beak?"

All of the owls, including Dewlap herself, traded glances with one another as if they couldn't figure it out yet. Some of the older owls were looking very worried at this piece of news, for they had been fighting the Pure Ones as long as Metal Beak had been alive. As for Aang himself, he hoped to never come across those Pure Ones while he stayed in this world.

"I just didn't want to let them leave too soon. I needed their help," he finished with a crack in his voice. "And now...I really need help in getting to the Northern Water Tribe. But I can't do that without my friends." And at this, he looked down as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Ezylryb was studying him closely before looking up at Boron. "And would you really argue with that?"

Boron stared back at the old scholar before saying his next words of judgment:

"I will not argue with it."

Aang let out a sigh of relief, but then he heard another sigh thanks to his Barn Owl ears. He looked up to see that Soren was staring down at him from a hole in the ceiling with relief in his golden eyes. Beside him were two owls that had been on the rescue chaw (Gylfie and Twilight) and another Burrowing Owl that looked a little weird.

But he turned back around as Boron announced, "Aang shall stay with us until he is ready to go to this Northern Water Tribe. In the meantime, he shall train with us to become a guardian of Ga'Hoole."

"For now, you may train in all chaws for a week," Barran added. "When that week is over, then you will be tapped for your own chaw that will be given out to you. For example, if you find a caterpillar in your nest, you will be tapped for weather interpretation. And sometimes, you can be tapped for two chaws at once...like Soren."

Then Boron dismissed Aang by saying, "You may go now, Aang. Feel free to explore the Great Tree anytime you'd like."

Aang nodded his thanks to the king and Queen of Ga'Hoole before lifting himself off the perch and flying to the exit.

**...**

"So what did the king say?" the Burrowing Owl asked Aang when he reunited with Soren and his friends. "By the way...name's Digger. Would you like to hear an owl joke?"

"Not again with those stupid owl jokes?" Twilight groaned. "It's like walking into an ambush!"

Suddenly, Digger's head shot up as he said, "Ambush? I bet you didn't count on that!" Then he started spinning around in circles and kicked up some dirt.

Then Soren, who had been away to talk with Ezylryb, swooped down to land beside Aang and spoke to Digger, "You showing him the ambush dig?"

"Kinda. It's hilarious!" the Burrowing Owl replied.

"Anyways, Boron said that I need to be in a chaw to train to be a guardian," Aang began. "So are all you four in chaws?"

Gylfie nodded. "Yeah! I'm in the navigation chaw!"

"I, being a poet warrior, am in the search-and-rescue chaw," Twilight crowed proudly. "And it's complete with some music!" Then he began strumming the lyre in his talons and began singing:

"_As the young owl joins us in our tree,_

_Oh so desperately wants to be free..."_

But Digger was holding his wings to his earholes as he cried out, "If you sing one more song, I'll yarp my own gizzard out!" When Twilight stopped singing, he told Aang, "Anyways, I'm in the tracking chaw. Quite suitable for a Burrowing Owl like me!"

"And I'm in the weather interpretation chaw and the colliering chaw," Aang heard Soren say. "I've been double tapped."

"So am I."

Aang and Soren watched as Otulissa flew down from a hole in the Tree towards them; the female Short-Eared Owl had a book in her talons. The book that she was carrying said _Fleckasia and Other Disorders of the Gizzard. _Already, Aang could tell that Otulissa loved reading and he could see that Soren was staring at her in a dreamy way. Gylfie, however, was giving her Barn Owl friend a disgusted look.

Anyways, Otulissa flew down and said, "I got this book from the library stating the disorders of the gizzard when exposed to flecks. It says here that when your gizzard is exposed to flecks, your navigation senses dull out. I believe that the Pure Ones would..."

"Is that spronk I see there?"

All six owls turned around to see that an owl was staring blankly at them. It was Dewlap.

The female Burrowing Owl flew over to them and snatched the book out of Otulissa's talons, making Aang look on in anxiety. He knew somehow that this would tick the Short-Eared Owl off, but doing it in front of him, Soren, and his friends was too much.

"Give that back! It's very important!" Otulissa screeched.

"But this is spronk," Dewlap responded stubbornly. To Aang, she said, "In case you don't know what it is with being the hatchling you are, spronk means forbidden knowledge. And this book here, called _Fleckasia and Other Disorders of the Gizzard _is spronk as well."

She puffed herself up and explained in a haughty voice, "Higher magnetics is not science. It's dark magic, shadows of the arts. Therefore, it must be removed from the shelves in the library!"

"Wrong!"

Aang had seen Dewlap raise the book in the air when a small red blur raced by and snatched the book from the outstretched talon. It was Ezylryb; the old Whiskered Screech Owl had flown between them and retrieved the book for Otulissa, who churred gratefully when he gave the book back to her. Aang saw that this owl had more authority over Dewlap by the way he was glaring at her.

But Ezylryb's voice was calm as he explained, "You say that it is dark magic, but you say it as if dark is negative in our world of owls. And what about us? We owls also depend on the darkness for these reasons: to hunt, explore, defend, find, and challenge. We rise into the darkness like the flower blooms in the sunlight. So let's have no more discussion of this. Dark magic is not dark or magic. It is a science that has yet to be explained."

Aang was impressed with this owl. He had used a simple argument to dissuade a book from being removed.

Then after Ezylryb flew off with Dewlap after him, leaving Aang, Soren, and the others to fly up towards their hollows. Before the sun went down, Aang thought he could see Shard checking up on him before his eyes closed.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat11: I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit short for those who want it longer. In the next chapter, I might make it longer. But if anyone reviews, you'll receive virtual cups of milkberry tea and virtual gummy mice.**

**Now here's the summary for the next chapter.**

**Summary: Aang explores the Great Ga'Hoole tree while participating in the chaws. And will Dewlap keep harping it up about this spronk?**

**One more thing: Today has been two years since I became a FanFiction author. If anyone reviews this story, they will get a virtual Pikachu plush doll with blue eyes and a purple cap.**

**See ya next time!**


	5. Training Day

**AvatarCat11: I think it's about time I updated this chapter of The Last AirBender And The Owls Of Ga'Hoole. And I'm sorry I've been neglecting this and the others stories that are not Avatar crossovers or Harry Potter crossovers. But the series FanFics I've been making are so awesome to create!**

**But that's enough of that for now. Let's just get on with the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last AirBender and Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hoole are not mine. Never have been, never will be.**

**Summary: Aang starts his training as a Guardian of Ga'Hoole, where he learns what it means to be an owl. While he trains to be a guardian, he makes more friends than the Chaw of Chaws. But there is one owl who doesn't like him that much...**

**Updating Date: February 15, 2012**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_Day Of Training_

"Aang! Wake up!"

The young Avatar did so, stretching his owl wings in the air and yawning loudly. He had had a bit of a dream of being in the Spirit World, where he met up with Avatar Roku, who had asked him why he hadn't returned to his world. Aang had tried to explain, but the scenery around him had been swallowed by darkness. But just before it could snap its jaws on him, Soren's voice woke him up right away.

Outside the hollow, it was dark outside save for the glow of the moon. The stars were shining bright and crickets were chirping their songs outside.

"Soren?" Aang groaned, sitting up awkwardly in his nest. "It's nighttime already."

"Exactly," Soren told him with a cheery smile. "You know, owls are nocturnal birds. You'll get used to it soon. But hurry or you'll be late!"

Aang looked at him in confusion. "For what?"

Gylfie hopped up to his nest and looked up at him. "Chaw training. The last will be the weather chaw. It involves flying through a storm and gaining its material for the Great Tree. Ezylryb said he felt a storm coming." Seeing the look on Aang's face, she added quickly, "Don't worry; we only fly around the edges since it would be bad to fly right into the storm."

But Aang didn't share the two owls' delight. The last time he was in a storm, he and his friends nearly died, and his friends nearly died from a resulting cold. As for the two owls, they had no idea on how he felt about storms.

"What's wrong?" Gylfie asked him softly. Aang was reminded of Katara by this Elf Owl.

"It's just...when I ran away from home, I got caught in a storm," he began. "The monks training me to be the Avatar were a bit too hard when it came to training. Besides, my mentor, Monk Gyatso, wanted me to have fun alongside the duties of the Avatar. But when the others wanted us separated, I ran away."

"I'd fly away from the Great Tree too if Ezylryb was sent away," Soren mumbled, ignoring the shocked look on Gylfie's face.

Feeling that the worst part was coming, Aang went on, "While I was gone, the Fire Nation came to the Air Temple and killed everyone there, including Monk Gyatso. And when I was revived by Katara and Sokka..."

Soren took the chance to add, "Your...former friends?"

"Yeah," the Avatar replied, turning away. "Anyways...when I was revived one hundred years later, I found the Air Nomads. They were all dead, and...well..." He stopped speaking, for he hung his head in sorrow.

Twilight, who had just woken up, yawned and muttered, "Well, you know what they say, lad: Buck up there. You'll get through it."

"Twilight!" Gylfie squawked. "Aang's entire nation got killed, and all you can say is 'buck up there?' For Glaux's sake, have a heart!"

"Sorry," the huge Great Gray Owl muttered. "I've been orphaned at a young age. Got captured by a Pure Ones patrol. Bit one of their talons clean off."

Soren started at him in shock. "Wow, Twilight. You never told us that."

But before Twilight could tell them the story, Digger called, "Guys, let's go! We're gonna miss training!"

All the other owls clambered out of their nests and flew out the hollow to training.

**...**

The first chaw they arrived at was easily boring: Ga'Hoology. Dewlap, the Burrowing Owl who scolded Aang the day before, was the ryb teaching there. However, one of the only things they had to do there was bury acorns and identify different berries. Not only that, but Dewlap kept saying things like "dear" or "nutkin" to soften them up.

"That's a good boy, dearie," Dewlap was telling Aang as he dutifully buried an acorn in the ground. "The tree needs all the nourishment it needs."

Twilight just yawned. "Boring!"

Otulissa, who had joined up with them in the chaw, gave him a glare. "Will you shut up, please? Some of us are trying to listen!" Then she swiveled her head back around to listen to Dewlap.

Aang listened to what the Short Eared Owl just said. Then, when he joined up with Soren and his friends, he asked them, "What's her problem? Yesterday, she didn't seem to like Dewlap, and now she's acting like she's important!"

"Well, passing Ga'Hoology IS important. And Dewlap IS a ryb," Digger said to them. "Besides, if other scholars come here for a challenge, we can get the dirt on them! Ha!"

"Not another joke!" Twilight groaned. But then... "At least it's not an owl joke."

Digger gave him a weird glance. "Do you _want_ me to make an owl joke?"

Twilight shook his head.

Finally, after Soren buried the last pellet in the ground, Ga'Hoology class was over, and the owls were ready to go to their next lesson. But before they could fly away, Dewlap called, "One more thing, dearies."

All six owls sighed, but they landed back on the ground in front of the Burrowing Owl. Dewlap began saying, "I have a weekend assignment for all of you. All of you must write a foot-long essay on how other trees affect the Great Tree. It's to be turned in right when you come into class. Failure to complete this assignment will result in a flint mop."

"Flint mop?" Aang whispered to the owls as they flew off for their next lesson: Navigation.

"Think of it as a detention," Otulissa explained. "Twilight always get them in the Ga'Hoology chaw."

"It's not my fault that owl's too old and boring!" the Great Gray protested.

But his insult didn't go unnoticed. For Dewlap's voice called, "And you'll get an extra flint mop at sunrise for insulting a ryb, Twilight."

Twilight muttered angry words towards her, but not loud enough for her to hear.

Anyways, all six owls arrived at the Ga'Hoology chaw, where the ryb was a middle-aged Short Eared Owl named Strix Struma. She seemed nice enough, even letting them have a snack of sliced fruit bat before they took off. Aang tried his best to study the stars while Otulissa seemed to be studying them too hard. Gylfie, however, seemed really skilled at it already despite being a small owl.

When that was over, Aang, Soren, and Otulissa went with two other owls named Martin and Ruby over to the colliering chaw, where Elvanryb was the chaw ryb. Elvanryb had a job for them that reminded Aang of the volcanoes in the Fire Nation: dive into a fire pit and retrieve hot coals from a pan below. Soren and Ruby had no problem with diving below the flames to get the coals while Martin had problems due to size and Aang because of fear. In the end, however, Aang had managed to get a coal in his beak.

Finally, before the weather chaw could go, they had to stop for something to eat. So they flew over to the dining hollow, where many owls were eating some kind of delicacies from pewter plates or sipping some drinks from hardened leaves shaped in the form of a cup. A few owls that greeted them were Twilight, Gylfie, Digger, and a young female Barn Owl who looked like Soren, except she looked redder; Shard, Parzival, and Uriah were at a table nearby.

"Hey, Aang!" the young female Barn Owl called to the Avatar as they flew over. "Didn't Soren introduce you to me earlier?"

"No," Aang told her. He had been too tired to meet other owls.

"Well, my name's Eglantine, and I'm Soren's little sister," the female owl explained. She puffed out her chest as she added proudly, "But I'm not little anymore!"

Soren, who was handing Otulissa a raw mouse, teased his sister, "But you'll always be my little sister! You said so yourself!"

Eglantine gave him a playful glare.

"Welcome, young Aang." The voice belonged to a red female snake, who uncoiled herself from under the table and slithered over to Aang. "I am Mrs. Plithiver, nest maid snake of Soren and Eglantine. You may find it easier to just call me Mrs. P."

"Thank you, Mrs. P.," Aang replied politely. Staring around at the food, he asked no one in particular, "So what can I eat here? Can I have the milkberry tea or milkberry cake?"

"Neither, laddie."

Ezylryb had flown down to them with a caterpillar in his beak; the Boreal Owl from the day before had flown down next to him. To Aang, he said, "Rules in the weather chaw says that you can't eat any cooked stuff during the chaw. Have to eat 'em raw, you do. And this owl beside me is Poot, my assistant." To the others, he said, "I have to see Boron and Barran at their meeting hollow for questions about the Pure Ones. Poot will teach you tonight. Good luck there."

Then he shambled away to join a large female Snowy Owl that was not Queen Barran.

"Hello, lad," Poot greeted Aang, extending a wing forward. "As me friend here said, I'm his own assistant. And tonight, you'll see what a thunderstorm is like."

"I already know," the Avatar spoke up, feeling nervous at this.

Poot gave him a wary look. "You do, do you? Well then, I'm sure everyone would love to see how you handle one. And remember, boy. Eat 'em raw, fur and all."

**...**

The rain soaked the owls' feathers as they flew on through the storm, flapping their wings hard against the wind. Soren looked behind him to see Aang doing his best to keep up with the other owls. But it seemed that despite being an AirBender, the Avatar was unable to stand up better to the storm. In fact, when Poot had mentioned going into a thunderstorm, Soren saw Aang go yeep at the sound of it.

And there they were, flying at the edge of where the storm was most severe. It was quite hard to see Poot up ahead, but Soren and his friends tried their best to keep up with him. Aang was the only one who was very easy to see, thanks to the sky-blue arrow on his head.

"Come on, maties!" Poot was calling. "We're goin' in to ride them scuppers and head through those baggywrinkles! Ain't this the life!"

"Seriously?" Otulissa muttered from behind Soren. "I know this class is important, but shouldn't they STILL give us a vocabulary list?"

"Come on!" Martine piped up, flying in between Ruby and Aang. "It'll be fun! I-whoa!"

The Northern Saw-whet Owl didn't get to finish because he was being blown away by the fierce winds. Soren watched with horror as Martin was pulled away into the center of the storm, yelling for help along the way.

Poot, who was the first to notice, shouted, "Martin! Owl down! Owl Down! Search and rescue commence!"

"I'll go in!" Soren told him. When Poot gave him a disbelieving look, the young Barn Owl added, "Ezylryb told me to use my gizzard and fly inside! I even did it to save the Guardians from the Pure Ones fleck trap! Let me do it!"

But Poot looked like he wanted to insist. But finally, he gave a sigh and said, "All right then, lad! Fly inside!"

Soren gave him a nod before flying into the eye of the storm after Martin. While he flew, he could hear Ezylryb's voice echo from his first lesson: _Use your gizzard, boy! Fly inside!_

Folding his wings to his side, the Barn Owl dove into the storm and held out his wings against the air currents. The other owls gazed at him with awe as if they had never seen an owl fly into a storm before. Remembering Ezylryb's advice to hold it, Soren continued gliding and kept his golden eyes open for Martin.

Finally, he found the small owl trying hard to beat his wings and rejoin the group. Stretching his talons forward, Soren flew over to him and grasped Martin safely in this clutches. Soren could hear the Northern Saw-whet Owl wheezing and gasping for breath, his eyes large with fright and relief mixed in. For now, things were all right.

Suddenly, he stopped. Painful jolts crashed into his head as he remembered that day: the day when he lost his brother Kludd. He remembered them battling it out in the forest fire and his brother breaking his wing and begging for help. Despite what Kludd had done in the past, Soren couldn't bring himself to hate his brother. Noctus had even told him that what had happened in the past should remain in the past.

_But how can it? I lost my brother, for Glaux's sake!_

At this, he released Martin and began falling. Soren couldn't scream like Martin could, but sorrow kept him from flying as he went yeep. As he recalled telling the owlets of how the great Guardians rescued the owlets from St. Agelious, he knew he would always leave out the part of him crying out for Kludd. It was to keep the owlets from seeing him cry over the brother who had become his enemy.

"Soren!"

Aang and Otulissa were flying to him as fast as their wings could carry them, ignoring the rain splashing onto their faces. Quickly, Aang flew underneath Soren and Martin and started beating his wings as fast as he could. To Soren's surprise, he was lifted high into the air by a gust of wind with Martin following him before two passing seagulls caught them.

Even Otulissa stared at the Avatar with shock. "A-Aang? How'd you do that?"

"I'm an AirBender! Didn't you hear me saying it?" Aang called back through the thunder.

Finally, Soren and Martin were dropped off to where Poot and Ruby were waiting for them on a rock out of the sea wave's reach. Soren and Martin had been dropped off by the time Aang and Otulissa returned from attempting the rescue. Believe it or not, the seagulls were talking with Poot and the others.

Martin was thanking the seagulls over and over again by saying, "Thank you! If I hadn't been snatched up after being lifted up, I would've fallen back down!"

"Aw, it warn't nothin,'" one of the seagulls said in a funny accent. The second seagull merely nodded his head up and down quickly.

"Don't forget that Aang also used his...AirBending to save you and Soren," Otulissa reminded him.

"Oh." Turning to Aang, the small owl chirped, "Thanks to you too, Aang!"

Aang looked away in mild humbleness. "No problem."

"Soren. Aang," Poot spoke up. "I'll have a talk with Ezylryb when we get back to the tree. It's time we got to talkin' 'bout what happened out there."

With a shrill hoot, the Boreal Owl lifted himself into the air and flew off, the other four owls following him.

_To be continued..._

**...**

**AvatarCat12: Sorry if this took a while to upload, but I actually had fun uploading this story again. I'll see what I can do about uploading the next chapter. And to top that off, I think I'll upload some of my other stories.**

**But anyways, those who review this story will receive a virtual owl plush doll with a blue arrow tattoo on its forehead. Constructive criticism will be very welcome into this story and other stories (including info I'm missing), just as long as it's not harsh. Flames are NOT allowed in any stories of mine, including this one. They'll be used to make S'Mores.**

**And here's the summary for Spronk.**

**Preview: Aang notices how Otulissa resists more of Dewlap's senseless rules. Meanwhile, an old enemy plots to resurface and become a threat to the owl kingdoms.**

**See ya next time!**


	6. Spronk!

**AvatarCat12: I had gained a new fan in FanFiction. And I'm not gonna let this fan down by uploading a new chapter here. Plus, he or she had a FanFic named L And The Guardians, and I'm gonna try my best to help this new fan.  
**

**But I'm sorry if I keep this chat short. On with the disclaimer!  
**

**Disclaimer: These two series don't belong to me. Never have, never will. If I WERE to own them, I'd be living in Beverly Hills. They belong to Michael DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Kathryn Lasky.**

**Summary: Aang and Soren tell Ezylryb about how it went during the weather chaw. But will this old scholar believe them? In the meantime, during training, Otulissa and Dewlap develop a heated rivalry.**

**Uploading Date: July 14, 2012  
**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_Spronk!_

Aang felt Soren shuffling his talons in hollow as Ezylryb wrote something down on a piece of parchment. The old Whiskered Screech muttered something about Benders and strange new magic, something Sokka would say. Behind them, the Chaw of Chaws owls were hanging out behind them, looking worried. Gylfie was muttering something anxiously, Twilight looked bored, Digger stared into space, and Otulissa listened carefully.

Finally, Ezylryb fishing with writing his thing down and rolled it up. He flew over to the window next to his sleeping hollow and placed the scroll at the edge. Noticing Aang and Soren watching him still, the old guardian fluttered down towards them.

"What's the matter, lad?" he asked them. Apparently seeing Aang noticing his missing talon, he raised it up and waved it in front of him. "Here. Take a look at it and remember it. You see it now?"

"Yes sir," Aang gulped.

At that, Ezylryb began to cough and sputter. At first, Aang was worried for him, but Soren had told him that it was his way for laughing. When he finished laughing, he looked up at them, his only eye glittering with strange humor.

"What's so funny, sir?" Soren asked with wonder.

The whether chaw ryb replied, "Thought I told you already, Soren. I ain't too formal around the Great Tree." Dropping the amused act, he went on, "Poot came to me after whether chaw class and told me what happened out there. So Martin almost died out there?"

Aang and Soren nodded. At the entrance of the hollow, Otulissa muttered, "How could he sound so casual about it?"

Digger gave her a hoot to be quiet. The female Short Eared Owl gave a sigh and went back to listening.

"Well, thank Glaux he made it," Ezylryb sighed with relief. Suddenly turning stern, he went on, "Soren, I just want to ask you this...what happened out there? I thought I told you to use your gizzard, lad!"

"I-I tried," Soren faltered under his teacher's glare. "But I...I just couldn't help but think about...what happened to Kludd..."

Aang looked at the sadness in the Barn Owl's golden gaze as he mentioned this owl. He supposed this Kludd was an important owl in his life like he was a brother or something. Then he saw Ezylryb's glare turn gentle.

"I understand, lad," the Whiskered Screech told him gently. "I, too, know what it's like to lose a brother. I had a brother named Ifghar."

Aang asked, "Did your brother Ifghar die?"

Ezylryb let out a dark chuckle. "Nope. He and I grew up together, even though I was the older. He wanted to be like me. So when we were growing up, we went to the same academy together, yet I was older than he. I even promised him that when he grew in spirit and mind, our dead Da's old battle claws would be his."

"But you didn't give them to him, did you?" Aang asked quietly.

The old scholar hung his head.

This made Aang turn away, ashamed, and say, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No, don't blame yourself, young'un," Ezylryb replied, waving a wing at him. "I didn't give them to my brother because he did NOT deserve them. You see, we've been fighting a war against a tyrant who wanted to take over Kiel Bay, and the war had gone on for two hundred years. Ifghar suggested making peace with this king, but I said we couldn't. And I suppose you've heard of Lyze of Kiel, Aang?"

"Yeah," Aang replied, amazed at how long two hundred years of war was to one hundred years of war. "Soren was telling me about him."

Ezylryb chuckled. "Well guess what? You're talking to him." Laughing at the baffled expression on their faces, he said, "Eh...sorry if I've kept you away from your hollows by my stories. An old veteran can sure ramble about the old days of war. Which, by the way, I'll tell you tomorrow."

**...**

The next night proved to be much more of a success for Aang in his Chaw training. In his Tracking Chaw class, he was training with the young female Burrowing Owl from earlier. The ryb's name was Sylvana, and Aang couldn't help but feel that Digger's eyes were glued onto her. He remembered when he first developed a crush on Katara; seeing her beautiful smile, her shining blue eyes...

"Aang? Are you awake?"

Aang looked around, trying to find the voice. It was Sylvana, looking at him with curiosity in her yellow eyes.

"Oh...yes, I'm awake," Aang said. "I was just...thinking of Katara..."

"You mean that female Other who left you?" Twilight asked. "Why'd you want to think of her for?"

Soren and Gylfie turned around to glare at the Great Gray for his lack of tact. But Aang went on, "I think of her because she freed me from the iceberg."

"Iceberg?" Otulissa asked, looking over her shoulder at Aang. "How can an owl or Other be trapped in an iceberg? And where did this Katara live at?"

"In the Southern Water Tribe," Aang explained. "Like the Northern Kingdoms in your world, the Southern Water Tribe is covered in snow and ice. There are actually two Water Tribes: one in the north and one in the south."

Otulissa nodded.

Digger spoke up, "What're the other Nations like? Do they have dingoes waiting in the trees, waiting to gobble you up?"

Aang laughed. "No, they don't have dingoes. But the Earth Kingdom is the biggest Nation in my world, and it's home to EarthBenders. They're humans who can control rocks and the ground. And the Fire Nation is a group of islands to the southwest, and they control fire."

"Kinda like Bubo and his smithing skills, right?" Twilight asked, joining the conversation.

"Yeah."

Perhaps Sylvana wanted to hear more later, for she called, "Okay, everyone! I think we should get back on track here! Heh-heh...get it?"

Immediately, Digger's head popped up when he heard this. "Hey! You made a joke!"

As Sylvana gave him a happy look, Twilight rolled his yellow eyes. "Oh, here we go," he muttered.

**...**

After tracking chaw was done for the night, they went on to battle training with Strix Struma, who was also the ryb of this chaw. Despite being the ryb for the navigation chaw, she could handle the battle training chaw quite well. But Aang had some misgivings about this chaw, for as an Air Nomad, he was taught to never fight unless it was necessary. However, he realized that this was just training to defend himself and the Great Tree from threats like the "Pure Ones."

So Aang had trained hard against Soren, who was his sparring partner for the night. Even though he and his friends were already Guardians, they liked to help out younger owls in their training. Aang had no more time to think about it as Soren flew towards him, the wooden sword held aloft in his talons. The Avatar rolled to the side in midair, making Soren fly past him like a spider-fly.

"Nicely done!" Shard was calling while Aang used his wooden sword to swipe Soren's sword out of his talons. He, Parzival, and Uriah were watching from their post. Streak, a male bald eagle Aang met a few nights ago, was watching them with tired eyes.

As Aang called his thanks to the Barn Owl, Streak yawned, "I best be off to bed, everyone. We eagles can't stay up late like you owls."

"It's okay," Parzival replied, nudging his teammate on the shoulder. "But what about when we went to Kuneer to rescue the owlets? That was during the night."

"I know," Streak retorted, but there was amusement in his voice. "That was different. But just in case anyone forgets, I'll have to write a book about that...if I could only learn how to read."

"Soren! Aang!"

It was Otulissa, who had flown up behind Uriah. Aang wondered what was up with the Short Eared Owl. So as soon as class was over, he flew over to where she was perched, Soren following him with confusion.

When they got there, Otulissa said, "Thank Glaux you two came around. I was reading up some more of Aang's world, but I got distracted when I saw another book. One I never thought the Tree would never install here."

"What would that be?" Soren asked.

"It's _Fleckasia and Other Disorders of the Gizzard_," Otulissa explained. "I was thinking over how Ezylryb, King Boron, and the others got trapped in that fleck contraption. I was just studying over it and trying to find out what makes flecks what they truly are. So we'll have to-"

"Is that the same book Dewlap tried to take from you?" Aang asked her. But then he cursed himself for saying this; he had interrupted her.

But Otulissa didn't look bothered by it; instead, she replied, "Yes. And Ezylryb said that I can keep it as long as Dewlap didn't find out. Let's go over to the library and find out which section the book's in."

The two Barn Owls nodded as they followed Otulissa from their perch and down to the library.

**...**

It only took a few minutes for the three owls to reach the library, where Aang stared around in amazement. The library itself was high up in the Great Tree in a large and roomy hollow lined up with books., and carpets of grass, moss, and the occasional down decorated the floor. Aang had never seen anything like this before.

But there was something else that caught his eye. There was Ezylryb sitting on a lonely perch at the far side of the library, a scroll and quill in his talons as he wrote something down. And beside that was a small store of dried caterpillars, which Ezylryb reached into, dragged one out, and munched on it noisily. Aang wondered what the Whiskered Screech was doing in the library.

"That's Ezylryb's studying perch," Soren whispered, noticing him looking over there. "He often comes in here to write when he's in the mood. And he sure loves his dried caterpillars."

Aang nodded and saw an owl that made him sigh. Dewlap was at the checkout area with a short-eared owl sorting through certain books and putting them on shelves. Otulissa made her way over there and asked, "Excuse me, matron, but may I borrow a book for the time being, please?"

"Certainly," Matron hooted. "Which book do you want to check out?"

"_Fleckasia and Other Disorders of the Gizzard."_

For a few minutes, there was nothing but silence in the whole library. Aang could see Ezylryb look up at the younger owl with a squinty look before going back to his scroll. Finally, Matron said, "Well, all right then. I'll go see if it's in here now."

"Oh no, Book Matron," Dewlap suddenly said, getting in the librarian's way. "That book is one of the books banned from the shelves until the Parliament makes certain decisions about it."

Aang and Soren looked over at each other, confused. Otulissa, on the other hand, looked very outraged, her feathers fluffing up until she looked bigger than Soren. "Banning books and decisions? Since when are there decisions about books anyone wants to read?"

Dewlap turned to her, her voice like poisoned honey. "There are other good books to read here, dearie."

"But we want to read _that_ book," Aang told the Burrowing Owl, remembering Soren and Gylfie talking about flecks. "We want to borrow it for studying about weather. Ezylryb will go mad if we don't-"

"That requested book has nothing to do with weather," Dewlap interrupted him.

Soren spoke up this time. "But the Guardians value knowledge and open minds. And young owls like us have open minds eager for reading. So may we borrow that book please? We'll give it back once we're finished with it."

Aang was amazed at how determined Soren and Otulissa were to get their talons on that book. He crossed his...talons...and prayed that they get that book, find what they were looking for, and be done with it. Slowly, Soren and Otulissa reminded him of Katara and Sokka before they left him to find their father. Now he felt bad for all he thought about the latter after they left him.

But when Dewlap spoke up, she merely went back to a list she was making and replied, "I'm sorry, dears, but that is impossible. For the time being, that book is spronk."

"SPRONK?" Otulissa cried so loudly that every owl in the library stopped what they were doing to look at her.

"Yes," Dewlap retorted with a testy tone.

Otulissa started ranting, "You can't just declare knowledge as spronk! That is the most outrageous, ordinary, and common thing to ever be done in this tree!"

"But it's spronk," Dewlap growled back.

"Well, SPRINK ON YOUR SPRONK!"

Immediately, the whole library fell silent, and Aang was sure what Otulissa said was a very bad word. For Dewlap had gasped and fallen over, knocked out from the impact that word "sprink" did on her. Matron rushed over to the Ga'Hoolology ryb and tried to fan her awake with her larger wings. When that didn't work, she turned to the three young owls with a fixed stare.

"I think you three better leave the library right away," she told them shortly. "Go on now. Go on!"

Aang, Soren, and Otulissa had no other choice, for they turned tail and flew out of the hollow.

**...**

Watching Aang sleep in his hollow that afternoon, Lyze Of Kiel watched with a wary good eye, a crow sitting calmly beside him. The way Otulissa cursed at Dewlap was enough to make the old Whiskered Screech Owl chuckle until he coughed up a dried caterpillar. But by the way the young'un had been twitching, he seemed to be having a daymare. And Lyze knew why: his friends.

All night, he had written plans to the Echidna about how to get into the Avatar's world. It sounded like Katara and Sokka (as these friends were called) needed a wake-up call and try talking with their friend. He wasn't all for mushiness, for it sounded like a badly yarped pellet, but he knew Aang needed his friends back. Without friends, life would have no meaning of learning.

So Lyze took out the scroll he had and started writing a small short poem:

_A young'un asks for help_

_But family bonds cloud his friends' judgment like clouds  
_

_And leave him to fend for himself  
_

_Why must all this drama be caused by family?  
_

_For Avatar Aang IS family.  
_

"I'm off," Lyze told the crow, rolling the scroll up. "Make sure no other crows get in our way to the Echidna."

"Got it," the crow told him quietly.

So Lyze jumped off his perch and took off towards the wild blue yonder, giving his signature laughing hoot. The crow was following him, and Ezylryb knew that since this crow was working alongside the Echidna. Together, they set off towards the Cape of Glaux as the sun rose higher into the sky.

**_To be continued..._**

__**...**

**AvatarCat12: Well, there we go, everyone! The newest chapter so far! What'd you think of it? Plus, that entire scene in the library...I got it from Book 4: The Siege. But I changed some parts in it, since (like I said before) I don't own the books or movie.  
**

**Read and review, everyone! Those who do will get either an Otulissa plush doll or a Dewlap voodoo doll with the pins. No flames are allowed on here, but advice and constructive criticism are welcome anytime.  
**

**And by the way, Ice Age 4 is now in theaters!  
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**See ya next time!  
**


	7. The Spell Of The Echidna

**AvatarCat13: Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't uploaded this story in a long while. There's not much to say except I'm also sorry I haven't uploaded any other stories; in fact, I even put some of them for adoption.**

**So far, on World Of Warcraft, my Night Elf druid is FINALLY at level 90! That's the highest level you can go currently. I'm finished with Dardiirn for now...but now I'm focusing on leveling up my level 69 Troll hunter named Grozzakal. And I managed to tame a Devilsaur named Sharptooth. But anyways, sorry to keep you all distracted.**

**Here's the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last AirBender doesn't belong to me, and neither does the movie version of Guardians Of Ga'Hoole.**

**Summary: Deciding to help Aang out, Ezylryb goes to the Echidna's place to go to the Avatar world with a mission. And that is to help Katara and Sokka reunite and reconcile with Aang. But will the mission do good or fall to shambles?**

**Uploading Date: February 4, 2013**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_**The Spell Of The Echidna**_

The sun was slowly rising into the sky as Ezylryb packed up his quills and papers. He looked around to see his old pair of battle claws hanging around near the coal pit, recalling his old days at his family's nest. If only Ifghar hadn't decided upon that traitorous decision, then they might have been teaching together, as brothers, in the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. But he shook the memories away as if they were flies.

_Don't get your mind fuddled by these pains, _the old Whiskered Screech told himself. _Just go to the Echidna and ask him about Avatar Aang's friends._

Packing up the last of his paper, he wrote down a note, telling his nest-maid snake Octavia that he would be gone for a few hours. Ezylryb pinned the note onto the side of his perch before flying out of the hollow, checking to make sure no owls were around yet. Once he was sure, he took off into the air, letting out his signature barking hoot.

Being the expert flier he was, Ezylryb didn't have much to go until he saw a sign that he was near his destination. Crows were roosting in some of the trees around the Cape of Glaux, their black feathers decorated with blue paint and jewelry. Ezylryb gave a barking hoot and glided over to the crows; despite being wet-poopers and known to be ominous, these birds were reliable in some way or another. They had noticed him, for they gave caws and flew off away from him. And Ezylryb, realizing his goal was closer, flew in after them.

Right when he arrived, he saw a familiar spiny animal appear on the ledge above him. Ezylryb did not know how this happened, but this didn't matter.

"Greetings, Lyze of Kiel!" the Echidna called. "How are you today, old friend?"

"Very good, thank you," Ezylryb replied, dipping his head to him as he landed. "And you?"

The Echidna nodded. "Same as well, Lyze. And I know what you are here for," he added in a mysterious voice.

Ezylryb nodded back. "Yes. It is to find Avatar Aang's friends, who are Katara and Sokka, and bring them here to reconcile with him."

"Foretold already!" the Echidna cackled, his spines quivering from his laughter. Ezylryb rolled his good eye at this before he heard the monotreme say, "But in seriousness, I understand what your mission will be, and I'll perform the spell to do it. Though...it might not go the way you might not want it to go."

"I understand," Ezylryb replied, though he was confused. He had no idea what kind of costs this spell would have.

So he watched as the Echidna walked over into a hole in the tallest rock before following him with one swoop. The crows were coming in after them, into a room that looked like a cave with lots of mystic stuff Ezylryb did not understand much of. Despite knowing lots of things, he was an owl of science, not spiritual stuff. But even though he would have liked to say it, he kept his beak shut about it.

The Echidna walked over to a large shelf filled with liquid-filled vials and looked them over, muttering something like "other worlds" and "Others". Noticing a blue vial, he picked it out with his long claws and hobbled over to a large bowl, but this puzzled Ezylryb even more. What in the name of Glaux was this mystic monotreme doing? But he stopped the thinking when he saw the Echidna dump some blue liquid into the bowl, stirring it occasionally.

"What are you doing?" Ezylryb asked.

The Echidna chuckled. "All in good time, Lyze. All in good time." After a few more stirs, he said, "Just a few more stirs, and the spell will be ready in a few winks."

And with a few more stirs, the bowl began to glow a bright golden, causing Ezylryb to squint his good eye at the brightness. The Echidna did not look phased at this, but he merely gave a chuckle and added a few more ingredients into the bowl. Ezylryb thought he saw a herb or two among the ingredients, herbs like lamb's ear and even elderberry. Finally, the Echidna stepped back, waving his decorated staff to the Whiskered Screech to step back too.

Then...the golden bowl began glowing an even brighter gold as it swirled around to reveal some sort of portal. The area revealed trees, plenty that still had their leaves despite it being winter and small patches of snow on the ground. Ezylryb realized that he was looking into Aang's world.

"This is it," he rasped. "This is where the mission starts." Turning to the Echidna (who was handing him a potion that would turn the Avatar's friends into owls), he said, "I thank you, Echidna, for what you have done."

"Anything for you, legendary Lyze of Kiel," the monotreme replied. "Remember this: When you've flown as far as you can, you're halfway there!"

Ezylryb did not want to question the oddities the Echidna came up with in his head, so he gave a small nod and flew off into the portal. He felt all the cultures, sayings, and martial arts float in his head, almost overwhelming the Whiskered Screech Owl. And just when he arrived at the end of the portal, he saw a tree up ahead and landed in it. He looked behind him to see it disappearing and into the bag he had over his shoulder.

When he looked down, he could see the forest floor below him, which reminded him slightly of the forest kingdom of Ambala. And right there at a rock...were two Others. They both had tanned skin, dark brown hair, and blue eyes, but they were also different. The smaller one was a female with her hair tied into a ponytail, and the larger male had a small knot at the top of his head and a weapon by his side. They were both sitting around the fire in front of them, and Ezylryb flew down onto a lower branch to see more.

And he could hear their voices once he got down.

"Can't you wait to see Dad again, Sokka?" the female was asking her brother.

_So those two must be Aang's friends, _Ezylryb thought. _And why are they on their way to see their father, looking as if they had never met Aang?_

Sokka nodded. "Yeah. And won't he be proud of us for passing our Rock Dodging?"

Katara smiled and nodded...before a sad look came across her face. "But...what about Aang? I hated it when he lied to us...but he was family..."

"No!" Sokka's voice and face had become harsh. "A real member of the family would never hide secrets from his friends! As far as I'm concerned, he's no friend of ours! You should be happy that we chose our dad over him!"

"How could you say that?" Katara retorted, glaring at him now as she stood up. "Yes, I felt betrayed...and no, I didn't want to leave Aang just yet! In fact, he could've come with us if you hadn't yelled at him!"

_The boy's friends are miserable without him, _Ezylryb thought, his good eye glinting as he stared on. _But Sokka is in denial; anger and betrayal can do that to one's gizzard._

Sokka snapped back, "Well, he deserved it for lying to us about the map! You know what? I hope the Fire Nation gets him on the way to the North Pole! That'll serve him right!"

Hearing this, Ezylryb swooped down and landed in front of them, hooting, "Wrong words, lad."

But as he landed on the ground, he saw that they were looking around, trying to find the source of the noise. Ezylryb knew he was quite a small owl, but even an owl like himself wouldn't be so hard to find. Then he saw that he was sitting among red leaves on the ground, disguising him well.

"Did you hear something?" Sokka asked, looking around.

"No," Ezylryb hooted. "But I SAID something."

Finally, their blue eyes met his good eye, their jaws slightly dropping. It appeared they had never heard of or seen a talking owl before. And to add some more to their surprise, he spoke again, "It's time we had a talk, young'uns...about Avatar Aang."

Katara and Sokka looked like they wanted to ask what a talking owl was doing here. Then Sokka's face turned from shock to anger as he growled, "What about him?"

"That's what I'm talking about," Ezylryb told him, pointing a talon at him. Seeing their stares, he barked, "What're you looking at? My missing talon? Well then, have a look at it if you want!" As they flinched from the deformity, the old ryb snapped, "Good. Now...as we were saying about Avatar Aang-"

"No way!" Sokka spat, standing up and walking back to the fire. "Aang betrayed us by hiding that map! He knew how much family meant to us, and he hid that map! He's a traitor!"

Ezylryb shook his head and then turned to Katara. "What about you? What did you do when this all happened?"

He saw the Water Tribe girl's face look shocked before she looked away in shame. Then she murmured, "I'm sorry...what's your name?"

"Ezylryb, a guardian of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree," the owl replied. "I also go by the name Lyze of Kiel...Lyze for short."

"Okay...Lyze," Katara said. "But anyways...after what happened, I-I said I was going with my brother. I didn't want to leave Aang or anything," she added, seeing Ezylryb's good eye narrow. "It's just...I just wanted to see Dad so badly; it's been two years since we've seen him."

Then Sokka called angrily, "And it's thanks to Aang that we didn't hear when he'd go to Chameleon Bay! So good riddance!"

Ezylryb glared over at him, hearing what Aang had said come to light. Sokka's longing to see his father again had clouded his judgment, and anger was making him say things he would not mean. As for Katara, she did not do much to support her brother's anger, but she had not stuck up for her friend when he needed it. It was time for the Echidna's spell to come to light.

So he rasped, "So you're going with that, eh? Family is important, yes, but so are friends. Yet you both shoved him to his side and forgot he was there. So I think you two better come with me for a while."

At this, he picked out the tiny golden portal from his bag, held it tight in his talons, and let out a barking screech to the air. He saw black shapes flying towards the portal and stepped back as the crows burst out and land in front of them. Their feathers were decorated with blue ornaments, and their black eyes were glittering with determination. But the strangest thing about them was that they were wearing glowing plastic on their talons.

_Looks like the time for reasoning has passed, _Ezylryb realized. _Now...is the time for force._

So the crows lifted into the air and flew right towards the Water Tribe siblings. Katara pulled a stream of water out of a water skin around her, forming it into a whip. Sokka had taken out a boomerang in one hand and a machete in the other. Ezylryb knew that the crows did not need any extra weapons; their main weapon was teamwork in numbers. He flew up towards the big oak tree above them to watch the scene, alighting onto a low branch.

Quickly, the crows started lashing out with their wings to beat them back, but Sokka lashed his machete at one crow, catching it on its side. Two crows flew at Katara, who beat them back with a water whip before four more took their place. The crow that Sokka beat down was only just moving due to a broken wing, so two crows picked it up and flew back into the portal. Ezylryb glared down at the fight as another crow was caught by Sokka's boomerang and fell with a sickly thud. As the dead crow was gently hauled away, he swept down until he stood in front of them.

With a barking hoot, he lifted himself up into the air and flew at them, beating his wings hard. He held the battle claws he had brought along with him tight in his talons, but he knew not to actually use them against the humans. Instead, he flew over to Sokka and gave him a whack on the side of the head with them to knock him out. Once the Water Tribe teen fell comatose, he flew over to hear if he was still alive, and the loud thud in his heart told him that he was. Ezylryb saw Katara looking shocked at her brother being attacked, so he quickly did the same to her.

"That's enough!" he barked to the crows, who were crowding around him. "Who has the changing potion? A potion that also lets them enter our world of birds?"

One crow came forth with a green-liquid vial in its beak, chirping, "Here, Lyze of Kiel."

Thanking the crow, Ezylryb limped over to Sokka, cursing his missing talon (the one torn off by Metal Beak in Kiel Bay). He tipped the Water Tribe teen's mouth open, pulled the cork off of the vial, and tilted the liquid down his throat, making sure he swallowed it. Once he was done, the Whiskered Screech Owl hobbled over to Katara and did the same thing he did with her brother. The crows blinked and flew up onto the branches of the oak tree, Ezylryb doing the same as he saw a green light surround the Others.

As soon as the light was gone, the two Others were gone. Instead, there were two Snowy Owls lying unconscious on the ground. One of them was white with black specks on its body; it had to be Katara since female owls were larger. The other was slightly smaller with pure white feathers and a long white tuft on its head; this was Sokka. Ezylryb shared a nod with the crows, for this part of the mission was complete. Now they had to try and bring them over to the Great Tree and get them to reconcile with Aang.

But suddenly, as soon as that came to his mind, a red light came over Katara and Sokka, briefly blinding Ezylryb. The old master hid his face with one wing to shield his good eye from the blinding light. The crows did the same, though some of them were staring wide-eyed at the red light as if seeing a treasure. Once the red light vanished, Ezylryb lifted his wing away from his scarred face...and gawked at what he saw...or didn't see.

Katara and Sokka were gone, gone except for their belongings and a few loose feathers. This must be what the Echidna warned him about spells going wrong. But still, this plan had failed for now; they couldn't be brought over to the Great Tree if he didn't know where they were. And the mission to help Avatar Aang would have to wait because of this.

_I'm not giving up on the lad, though, _Ezylryb thought. _All we need to do now is to pray for hope that this gets right. I swear this by Glaux. _Then as he slipped back into the portal, he added silently, _And I'll need to inform the Echidna about this._

**...**

It felt like lots of rocks fell on Katara's head as she slowly started to recover. The last thing she could recall, an owl had sent lots of crows after her and Sokka, a sign that told her that they were wrong to abandon Aang. They were going with Bato to Chameleon Bay to see their father, but he would notice that they were gone now. Even though she wanted to see Aang again, she also wanted to see her father.

But now, she looked around and saw lots of stone walls surrounding her. She could not recognize any of the surroundings around her, for she had never heard of this area from Aang. Katara got to her feet slowly, trying to shake the dizziness out of her head, but the crow attack still left her dizzy. As soon as she got upright, she began to beat her wings to get the tiredness out.

_Wait a minute... _Katara thought with shock, looking at white wings. _W-What's going on?! Where's some water?!_

But there was no water; in fact, she did not have her water pouch to Bend the water into a mirror. Something shiny caught the corner of her eye, though, and she spotted a metal mask in the form of an owl's face on a rock. Feeling the tiredness in her legs still, Katara hobbled over to the mask and was shocked to see a white owl's face staring back at her in the silver metal. She still had her bright blue eyes, but she had the Snowy Owl face and body, her feather dotted with black spots.

"W-What happened?" she rasped, stumbling back. "What happened to me?"

"K-Katara? That you?"

Katara recognized the voice and turned around. "Sokka?"

The Snowy Owl looking back at her with the same blue eyes...it _was _Sokka. His feathers, unlike hers, were pure white, and he had a tuft of white feathers on his head to look like hair. Like her, though, he was dizzy from when the owl named "Ezylryb" had done. Hobbling over to him, Katara gently nudged him to his feet, one wing over her back.

"It's okay, brother. I got you," she murmured, holding him up.

"Wha-What happened to us?" Sokka slurred, looking over at her. His eyes wider now, he yelped, "And how come we're owls?"

Katara shrugged. "I have no idea. And speaking of that, where are we?"

Sokka looked around and said, "I don't know...but this isn't the Earth Kingdom." Then, anger in his eyes, he hissed, "I bet Aang hired that old owl to do that to us! How could he-"

"That's what got us into this mess in the first place," Katara snapped, pulling away. It was time to defend Aang even though he wasn't there. "What he did was wrong, yes, but did you really have to yell at him like that?! If we find him again and he says he hates us...or if he dies and we never see him again, it'll be all your fault!"

"Well...you said you wanted to come along with me!" Sokka spat. "That means you're just as guilty as me!"

WHACK!

Before Katara knew it, she had slapped her wing across her brother's head, making him stumble back in alarm. How dare he accuse her of not caring about Aang after they left him?! Then...she saw something that made her gasp and regret what she did: Sokka was tumbling back towards a ledge, wailing his wings around like a windmill and his eyes filled with horror. Realizing that they had not learned to fly as owls, Katara tried to grab hold of his foot, but he was already falling out of reach. And with a screech, he fell down into the canyon.

"SOKKA!" Katara howled, watching him fall. _No! What have I done?!_

Then all of a sudden, a red blur moved forth and caught Sokka by the foot, flying up towards her. Katara was thankful that whatever it was had rescued her brother...before she felt herself getting hit from behind and pinned to the ground. When she strained to look up, she was looking up at a white owlish face with patches of red. The other owl had landed beside him, a reddish owl with white splashes on his feathers. Both of these owls had ear tufts, bones in their nostrils, and even different-colored eyes: one yellow and one green.

Straining her neck up, Katara groaned, "T-Thanks for rescuing my brother...but who are you?"

"Shut your beak, missy, or we'll tear it off! And you better start saying why you're here in the St. Aegolius canyons!" the white-&-red owl barked down at her. Turning to the red-&-white owl, he asked, "So how was that, Jatt? A perfectly good threat?"

"Yeah!" the other owl said with a look of delight on his face. "Mind if I say one in return, Jutt?"

Jutt nodded. "Be my guest!"

Jatt nodded and then glared down at Katara and Sokka, whom he still kept pinned down. "I am Jatt."

"And I am Jutt," Jutt added.

"And we're officers in the St. Aegolius Academy Of Orphaned Owls," Jatt said. "And you two are in a non-flying zone. You two are coming with us to see Skench, our general."

Jutt turned to face him. "Wait, I thought Nyra's the general."

_Nyra? Who's that?_

But while Katara thought of this, Jatt explained, "No, no, that's different. General Mam's the _Ablah _general, and Skench is JUST the general. That's two very different things." To the Water Tribe siblings, he barked, "And you two!"

"You're coming with us!" Jutt added.

And he gripped Katara's shoulders even tighter, his talons sinking into her flesh, as he lifted off the ground. Jatt was beside him, swapping playful jokes as he carried Sokka in his grip. Katara did not like where this was going; they had just been picked up by two mean owls and going to some orphanage. They weren't orphans, for their father was alive...and they were going to him.

But she knew that because of that, they had left Aang on his own and ended up in this place. She blamed herself even more for leaving him, and he had needed them too. Sokka had said over and over the past few days that the Avatar had abused their trust, but that was not true. They had abused his hopes in finally having a family.

_What have we done?_

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**AvatarCat13: Once again, I'm SO sorry I hadn't uploaded this story in a while. And about that episode of Avatar: The Last AirBender, I'll say how I think of that scene.**

**Yeah, what Aang did was stupid...but I felt that Sokka's reaction was unnecessary. And yeah, he did feel angry about what happened, but choosing to yell at Aang was NOT OKAY! So forgive me for making him a bit aggressive in this chapter, but don't worry. He's gonna turn around later in this story...and this'll be an alternate route in the series.**

**So anyways, read and review! Those who do will have a virtual plush doll of your favorite owl sent to you automatically. That means once you leave the review, you immediately get the treat. I do NOT allow flames, but I allow advice and constructive criticism. And here's the preview for A Guardian's Mission.**

**Preview: Aang and his new owl friends are called upon a special mission, their first official mission as guardians. But Soren and Gylfie will not like this, for it brings back memories of an evil place and the death of a mentor. Will they be prepared forwhat they will find? In the meantime, Katara and Sokka are brought forth to Nyra, queen of the Pure Ones? What will she do with them?**

**See ya next time! And Happy early Valentines' Day!**


	8. The Guardians' Mission

**AvatarCat13: Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't uploaded this chapter yet, but I was busy with some other stories and stuff. We've had a lot going on, so I'd like to say a few other stuff about what'll happen in the story and all that.**

**I saw that there could be confusion about the main characters being mostly Barn Owls, so I'm switching Shard's species. I won't tell you what it is yet, though; that's something you can see in this chapter. And what you'll see up ahead takes place during chapter 5 in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole book called The Siege.**

**So now that that's done, let's get on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: Both of these series don't belong to me. They belong to Michael DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Kathryn Lasky. But the movie also belongs to the Warner Bros. Animation Studio.**

**Summary: ****Aang and his new owl friends are called for a special mission, their first official mission as guardians. But Soren and Gylfie will not like this, for it brings back memories of an evil place and the death of a mentor. Will they be prepared for what they will find? In the meantime, Katara and Sokka are brought forth to Nyra, queen of the Pure Ones. What will she do with them?**

**Uploading Date: October 7, 2013**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_**The Guardians' Mission**_

Once they made it back to the hollow they slept in, Aang and the other owls began laughing at how Dewlap fainted. Though...Aang felt a little bad for the elderly Burrowing Owl; perhaps she was just going senile. On the other hand, she did go against him and scold him for causing his friends to abandon them.

"Are you sure you're not sorry?" Soren asked Otulissa after they stopped laughing.

Otulissa nodded. "I'm very sure, Soren. Spronking is very lower class, and it goes against what the Guardians of Ga'Hoole are and everything they stand for. You know what? I don't care. I don't regret a word...not even the you-know-what word. I don't care if I get a flint mop for this...and I REALLY do not care if I get chaw-chopped either!"

Aang noticed the owls around him flinch. "What's wrong with chaw-chopped?"

"It's awful!" Gylfie chirped, staring up at him with worried yellow eyes. "It means you won't be able to attend a chaw for some amount of time."

"Oh...it DOES sound bad," Aang remarked.

Just as they were going to settle in for the day, the matron (a Spotted Owl) stuck her head in, hooting irritably, "The lot of you are to come to the Parliament instantly. Except for Eglantine."

The older owls gulped, but Eglantine asked, "Why not me? I want to be included."

"What about being included into a flint mop?" Twilight retorted. "If you recall, the last one was having to bury some pellets for Dewlap for three days."

Aang nodded, recalling the flint mop the old owl gave him. He added more gently, "He's right, Eglantine. You weren't in there, and you're lucky to have not been there...right, Twilight?"

Twilight gave him a weird look. "Actually, we didn't know you. The past one you heard her give me was to check the population of fruit bats that lived here."

"Never mind," Aang backtracked. That must have happened long before he himself was turned into an owl.

"We should go," Soren spoke up. "I wonder what they want to see us for?"

**...**

When the six owls flew to the Parliament hollows, Soren saw that Boron and Barran were indeed waiting for them on their perches, Ezylryb by their side (though he looked tired). They weren't alone either; Ruby and Martin from the weather interpretation chaw were there, along with Shard and his crew. The young Great Gray Owl was settling well onto a perch that was twice his size so that Parzival, Streak the bald eagle, and Uriah could perch on there as well.

**(Author's Note: See? That's what Shard will be from now on.)**

_I wonder what they're doing here? _Soren thought. Ruby and Martin only tagged along with him and the Chaw of Chaws during tweener and chaw classes. As for Shard and his crew, they would usually turn up either during training or after they came back from a mission. Streak, however, often came to the Ga'Hoole tree to join Shard in his missions or if he had news from Kuneer.

Finally, Barran cleared her throat and said, "Now you have been called here for a reason. I bet you're wondering why you are here."

The owls nodded, but Soren was afraid. Were they all going to get flint mops? Or would Aang be kicked out of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree? He hated to see his new friend leave so soon, but the owls of Ga'Hoole would never exile another owl to the wild. Instead, they would be sent to the Glauxian Brothers' Retreat in the Northern Kingdoms.

"There's no need to look upset. You're not in trouble," Boron said, seeing his face. "Now...all of you have very remarkable talents. Soren, your leadership skills are quite exemplary as Ezylryb here had said, Gylfie can find her way around the dark well due to studying the constellations, Twilight can fight well-"

"And I'm darn good at it too!" Twilight boasted, making Soren roll his head and think _That's our Twilight, all right_.

Boron nodded. "Yes, well...carrying on. Digger, you can track the footsteps of a mouse even if you're in the lower branches of a tree. Ruby, despite your ground-living origin, you are a superb flier like Soren...and so are you, Martin," he added, looking at the tiny Saw-whet Owl. "And Aang, you have provided us a look at another culture with...your air skills."

"It's called AirBending, sir," Aang said, dipping his head politely. "The Air Nomad monks had taught me all I needed to know."

"That's good to hear, young'uns," Ezylryb spoke up from his perch. "You have the skills we need for the mission we are about to give you. To get to the point, we need all the skills of the Chaw of Chaws to be put to the test."

"Meaning...?" Otulissa asked, tilting her head to one side.

Boron finally said, "Your goal...is to infiltrate the St. Aegolius Academy For Orphaned Owls and find out what the Pure Ones are up to."

Hearing those words made Soren almost go yeep on the spot. Go back...to that awful place? That was where he and Kludd had been taken to after they were kidnapped by two Long-eared Owls named Jutt and Jatt. He remembered the moon-blinking process, where owlets were forced to sleep under the full moon at night...which was ridiculous; owls were nocturnal birds. And in the morning, they would be hypnotized. But he could remember the fleck trap easily, the strong and painful pulling in his gizzard when the flecks took effect on him.

Soren also remembered how he and Gylfie escaped thanks to a battle-scarred Boreal Owl named Grimble, who had died protecting them from the evil Pure Ones queen, Nyra. He remembered when he angrily challenged her and held her off while he (Soren) and Gylfie fled from the library. Now that he and his friends were at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, he thought he would never have to go back there...until now.

"Why do we have to go there?" Soren asked. "Gylfie and I barely escaped with our lives!"

"I know it's hard for you young'uns to go back there," Boron said with a sympathetic look. "But you two hold the most knowledge of St. Aegolius and what goes on there."

"And besides..." Barran added, "...you'll have your friends with you. Aang, Twilight, Digger, Otulissa, Ruby, and Martin will be there. But if anything goes wrong, Shard and his band will swoop in and help you out."

The more the king and queen said this, the more it made sense to Soren. Besides, the Pure Ones could strike someday, and they couldn't afford to ignore the increasing threat. But still...it would be very hard to return to the same place he and his friend escaped from...an evil place, at that. And it was where he, Gylfie, and Kludd had been taken too.

Ezylryb spoke up, "And over the last few months, we have obtained a new slipgizzle..."

Just then, Aang asked, "Slipgizzle? What's that?"

"A spy," Otulissa said right away. "In other words, it's an owl who spies for a faction."

"Thank you for the vocabulary quiz, Otulissa," Ezylryb retorted with a twitch of his feathers. "Anyways, as I was saying before we were interrupted...we have obtained a new slipgizzle named Hortense...but she let us call her Mist. She used to be a prisoner there, and thanks to living there and being exposed to the flecks, it has caused her feathers to turn pale, almost foggy gray so that she almost looks like a scroom. She can't fly well, but she has great observation skills, and she would have been a good tracker if she was brought here to the tree."

Barran nodded. "That's true. And she said that the Pure Ones are harnessing flecks for a bigger and more ominous cause. Even more ominous than what happened at their nerve center. And that is why we chose you to investigate this scene: you, Soren and Gylfie, had been there before, so you will know that place well. So even if it will be hard for you to go back, will you accept?"

"I don't know," Soren said, sharing looks with his friends and Aang. "Won't they recognize us?"

Boron shrugged in the way an owl could do best. "Perhaps...but they most likely will not, for they are apparently forgetful when it comes to that kind of stuff. But anyways, in order to be accepted in there and investigate, you must find a cover story. But you must not mention the great tree, or they will be suspicious. Say that you're from...let's say...the Northern Kingdoms, for the Northern Kingdoms would be fraught with war and peril. We know Gylfie and Digger are desert owls, but Ezylryb has it covered." Turning to the Whiskered Screech Owl, he said, "If you'd like to speak, then feel free."

Ezylryb bowed slightly before turning to the younger owls. "You see, you'll have to report to my hollow in a week. There, I will tell you that there are williwaws that-"

"We know of those!" Gylfie spoke up. "We were on our way to the Great Tree for the first time, and that's when Digger's wings froze!"

"And when I got transported here, I felt that kind of wind too," Aang added.

"Good lads!" Ezylryb praised them with a cackle. "Now that I don't need to explain that now, I'll go on with it. You can explain that there are williwaws that have blown you away from the Northern Kingdoms and towards the canyons. For further details, visit me at my hollow."

"That reminds me...we got you young'uns covered up with a cover story," Barran continued for the elderly Whiskered Screech. "Ezylryb will devise a so-called scientific experiment that will require transferring equipment to an area on the other side of the Sea Of Hoolemere. The execution of this requires great skills from a chaw."

All the young owls nodded.

"One more thing," Boron said, handing them a shard of glass. "Remember that if you need outside help, Shard and his band will be patrolling the outside of Saint Aegolius. If you need him, shine this glass to the sun to alert him and his band. Did you hear that, Shard?"

"Yes sir," Shard replied with a nod. Parzival, Streak, and Uriah followed his example.

Boron nodded. "Good. Now you are dismissed, but report to Ezylryb's hollow at tween time for your first lesson on the Northern Kingdoms."

Aang nodded before feeling giddy on the inside. He knew he had to go to the Northern Water Tribe to learn WaterBending, but being on a mission of owls was exciting too. But while he was thinking that, he saw the other owls start to leave and began following suit.

"A minute there, Otulissa." Ezylryb was looking at the Short-Eared Owl with a familiar book in his talons. "You missed something."

"It's the book we wanted," Otulissa gasped, flying over and accepting the book. "Thank you."

Ezylryb blinked once with a nod. "Anytime, lad. And remember...sprink on spronk."

Boron and Barran looked mildly shocked at what this revered teacher of the tree just said. But they apparently let it slide, for they turned to talk with each other while the younger owls flew out of the Parliament hollow, Shard and his band after them.

**...**

With a gasp of pain, Katara fell to the ground after Jutt had dropped her onto stone. Just behind them were Sokka and Jatt, the latter dropping the former beside his sister. Katara got to her feet and helped Sokka up before looking around in shock.

Baby owls of many species were around them, either asking what was going on or crying for their parents. Katara knew what it was like to lose a mother, but to lose both parents...she was going to see her father...and now some evil owls had kidnapped her and her brother. It would have to be a long while before they would be reunited with Chief Hakoda, Bato, and any other Water Tribesman they met along the way.

Katara noticed Sokka whirl around, glaring wildly with fear in his eyes. She was scared too, for she did not know what to do in her new owl body. All around her, the baby owls were crying and complaining a lot more, breaking her heart a bit more.

"Silence!" a large female owl shrieked harshly, flying down towards them and landing before them. She was a dark brownish owl with a light facial disc, a long scar going down said disc, and what looked like feathery horns or ears coming out of her head. She shrieked on, "Do you hear me, you lot?! I said SILENCE!"

They all fell silent.

The horned owl began speaking, "I am Skench, top general of St. Aegolius and one of your new caretakers. We have rescued you from being orphans, and you are now part of us. Your parents have abandoned you..." She ignored their cries and continued, "...but by the mercy of Glaux, you have been rescued. So in exchange of your loyalty, you will pay us back with hard labor and discipline. Some of you may be soldiers and serve the Pure Ones, though I highly doubt that, and some of you might be pickers. You know, picking pellets."

"I don't wanna be a picker!" a little owlet hooted.

This brave little outburst made everyone except Katara and Sokka start crying again.

"Let us out!"

"We don't wanna serve the Pure Ones!"

"You can't keep us here!"

"I want my mama!"

But before Katara could try and comfort them, for she couldn't bear to see them like this...like a certain AirBender, a loud screech made them look up. Two owls with ominous dark helmets on their heads were flying towards the throne of rock that stood before them all. They landed on the perches on either side and faced them, their glowing red eyes standing out from the rest of those dark helmets. And as they all fell silent, a new white owl swept over them, landed on the very top of the throne, and looked down at them.

If this female owl wasn't looking down at them with a sadistic gleam on her face, she would have been beautiful for an owl. Unlike the owls beside her, her feathers were pure white, barring the small shades of golden in some spots. Her blue eyes (which had amber around the pupils) were filled with contempt, and red markings stood out on her face like blood. This was one owl that would never have been seen in the forests of the Earth Kingdom.

"I am Nyra, Ablah general of St. Aegolius," the owl began to speak. "I am the queen of the Pure Ones and mate to the lord High Tyto. I understand that you miss your families, but soon enough, you will understand that the Pure Ones are your family now."

"The High Tyto!" a little female Spotted Owlet piped up. "He was killed months ago!"

Katara had no idea who this "High Tyto" was, but she was sure that he held lots of authority in this place. But it was apparently the wrong thing to say, for Nyra swept down towards the baby owl, eyes alight with some kind of fire. She looked much more intimidating up close.

But when she spoke, her voice was softer as she said, "Killed, you say? What you say is half true. Yes, Surtr was killed, but a new High Tyto has risen since his death. Next time, owlet, show a little more respect if you don't want that beak torn off."

The little owlet shivered at the thought of that. Katara felt like that was no way to talk to a child like that, especially since said child had been snatched by her parents.

"Can't you leave them alone?" she suddenly spoke up. "They're scared!"

"Your species is Snowy, I assume?" Nyra replied, turning to face her with that stare. "For a Snowy, you have quite a strong spirit in there...as does your brother." She looked up to where Sokka was trying to stare down Jutt and Jatt but failing to do so.

Katara faltered under her glare, which made Nyra remark, "Hmmm...what a pity. If you had been Tytos, you would make the perfect trainees to be our soldiers. But you'll be joining the others of the lesser species as pickers." With one more glare, she turned to her soldiers, saying, "Take all of these owlets to their nurse chambers. I will talk with our newest soldiers."

Before Katara could object, Jutt came up behind her and began shoving her back into a chamber, growling, "Come on, you! Do what General Mam says, or you'll never see the light of dawn!" To Jatt, who was pushing Sokka along, he asked, "So you still think it's awesome?"

Jatt nodded. "Yeah. But next time, make some more jokes. You don't want that one being stale."

"Oh. Okay. But still, it's awesome."

"That, I agree with."

Katara did not want to hear the rest of these owls' jokes, for she was feeling a bit more afraid than ever. What would this place be like? This was nowhere in the Fire Nation, yet these owls behaved like what they would do. Now she wished more than ever that Aang was still with them; he could probably recognize this place.

She and Sokka were pushed into a pit where two owls were waiting for them. One of them was a white owl like they, and the other looked a bit like Skench even if he was male. The snowy owl had some sort of horrible stench on her, but Katara didn't know what it was. The horned owl just stared at them with blank orange eyes, making her feel a bit disturbed.

"Hello, dearies," the snowy rasped in a sickly sweet voice. "I'm your Aunt Finny, and this is Uncle Unk. We'll be taking very good care of you!"

"Yes we will." Even though "Uncle" Unk had that blank stare, his voice was just as cheery as Finny made her voice. "It's a good place to spend the rest of your lives!"

This made Katara share a look of uneasiness with Sokka before the latter stepped forth. "Well then...okay. What do we do-"

But Aunt Finny held a wing up. "No no no, dear! No questions here...but this is your first time here, so we'll let it slide. But be careful not to ask any more questions."

"Why-" Remembering herself in time, Katara said, "Asking questions must really be forbidden here. I wanted to ask-"

Uncle Unk replied, "We just don't allow questions. Unless if you really DO want to go to laughter therapy."

Not knowing what the laughter therapy meant, the Water Tribe siblings nodded.

"Good," Aunt Finny said, giggling an owlish giggle. "Now come inside, come inside! We've got some fresh fat voles for you to eat! You must be famished!"

Katara looked back to where Jutt and Jatt were guarding the pits, wondering if they found Aang too. Maybe then she and Sokka could make up with him, and they could go back on their trip to the Northern Water Tribe. And perhaps this place could help her and Sokka and why the owl named Ezylryb turned them both into owls. Yet she couldn't help but shake off the feeling that this place was bad news, as if something ominous was waiting for them here.

_I'll think about it later, _Katara decided, watching Sokka uneasily accept a vole from Uncle Unk. _I'm getting a little hungry anyways._

_**To be continued...**_

**...**

**AvatarCat13: Well, that chapter is finished! I had to read over The Siege and The Capture to try and get the info for this chapter. And it looks like Katara and Sokka are getting their first bitter taste of the harsh life as slaves to the Pure Ones. Plus, I brought Skench, Finny, and Unk from the first Guardians Of Ga'Hoole book, and no, the little owl who said "I don't wanna be a picker!" earlier is not the same one as Pete. Plus, I switched Shard's species because there are main owl characters of other species like Barn for Soren, Spotted for Parzival, and Great Horned like Uriah.  
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**Other than that, I've been getting a little busy with plenty of stuff in real life. I've gotten a bit irritated with my grandma...because I feel like she's been babying me, and I hate it. But still, I'm kinda happy that I've come up to Pennsylvania, though I miss my mom, brother, sister, niece, and dogs very much. And before I tear up, here's the review part and the preview for Flint Mop For Otulissa.**

**Read and review! Those who get them will get an owl version of Brawling Buddies so that you can beat up your least favorite bad guy. I don't allow flames or else they'll be used for cooking S'Mores and pizza. I DO, however, welcome advice, questions of any kind, and constructive criticism as long as it's not harsh.**

**Preview: Aang, Soren, and the guardians prepare for their great mission to St. Aegolius, but Otulissa runs into trouble from Dewlap. Will Aang and his friends leave her behind, or will they wait for her? And back at St. Aegolius, Katara's fears of the place prove her right when something happens to Sokka.**

**See ya next time!**


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